A FATHER-of-four who suffered a heart attack is backing a call by the Shadow Health Secretary for a law requiring busy public buildings to install life-saving defibrillators.

Many schools, gyms and shopping centres already voluntarily have the devices which Labour MP Andy Burnham described as the modern equivalent of the fire extinguisher.

However, in a speech tomorrow (MONDAY MARCH 25) he will ask that it becomes compulsory to install the machines, which restart the heart with an electric shock, and that CPR heart massage should be added to the national curriculum for children.

Mike Brough, from Darlington, said he supported the initiative as long as its first aid users were trained properly.

He added: “I am overjoyed at this news but we need to ensure that the people who are trained are not frightened to use them as they really are the last throw of the dice.”

The 52-year-old’s life was saved when he collapsed after a five-a-side match at the town’s Dolphin Centre.

He said that although the leisure centre did have its own defibrillator, paramedics used their own machine to restart his heart.

“It came out of the blue which was the scary thing, you never think something like this is going to happen to you but I was back playing football two months later.”

Mr Burnham will say that the £1,000 devices could be paid for by community fundraising.

“If we had them in all very busy public places we could save a lot of lives,” he will add.

The Northern Echo originally launched a campaign called "A Chance To Live" 12 years ago aimed at cutting the waiting times for heart bypass surgery in Britain.

The campaign was extended in 2012, this time focusing on the need to promote the greater use of defibrillators in public places and gyms.

James Wharton, Conservative MP for Stockton South, said: “I would like to see defibrillator machines in more public places and I think there is some scope for the Government to look at where they should be installed.”

He added: “It does not surprise me that the Labour Party is putting forward yet another measure that would cost a very substantial sum that they did not bring in during its years in Government.”