PCSO Sean Ford from the Bishopsworth neighbourhood team performed life-saving CPR on a man who was unconscious behind the wheel of a car.

While on patrol in Hartcliffe, PCSO Ford noticed a number of vehicles parked oddly across the road on Bishport Avenue on Saturday.

On seeing Sean’s police vehicle, two members of the public flagged him down and told him there was a man in one of the cars who wasn’t breathing.

After calling for an ambulance and backup on his radio, PCSO Ford approached the car and saw the man sat in the driver’s seat looking very pale and with his head back.

After checking the man’s vital symptoms, he found he wasn’t breathing and he had no pulse, so he pulled him from the car and laid him on his back. After checking for injuries, PCSO Ford began performing CPR.

PCSO Ford carried on with CPR until the ambulance arrived, and then continued to assist the paramedics, who shocked the man with a defibrillator twice, between which attempts PCSO Ford continued with CPR until finally a pulse was found.

The 27-year-old man was taken to the BRI for treatment.

Critical care paramedic Neil Hooper said: “I saw Sean administering CPR to the victim, he was calm and methodical and maintained CPR for an extended period of time. This allowed the attending paramedics to carry out immediate actions prior to taking over. Make no mistake about it, Sean saved this man’s life today.”

PCSO Sean Ford said: “This is why we do our first aid training, so that we can help members of the public when needed. You always hope that you won’t have to use it in real life, but have to be ready to put it in to practice.

“I think I just went into auto-pilot and did what any other officer would have done. I was just in the right place at the right time.”