I'm exceptionally lucky total strangers stepped forward and saved my life

A GRANDFATHER-of-five has told how he collapsed with a heart attack and almost died on a shopping aisle in Aldi

- PAUL BRITTON

Joe Peden, 61, has shared his story to thank the store manager and an off-duty A&E consultant for saving his life together with customers and passersby who raised the alarm and rushed to get a defibrillator.

Joe said the store manager, who he knows only as Jason, performed CPR on him for eight long minutes on the aisle floor by his trolley.

The A&E consultant from Wythenshawe, who Joe said was in the store shopping at the time, then took over for a further four minutes before he was shocked three times with the defibrillator.

Speaking from hospital as he prepared to be discharged home, dad of-three Joe, from Sale, told the M.E.N.: "These people saved my life.

Total strangers stepped forward and saved my life. I was exceptionally lucky.

"They stuck at it and did not give up on me. I was dead for 12 minutes, by all intents and purposes." The M.E.N. told how police and paramedics were called to the Aldi store on School Road in the centre of Sale at around 3pm on May 18 after Joe's collapse. A cordon was in place at the supermarket for more than two hours.