A SECURITY guard saved his wife’s life by using first aid skills he had learnt only days before.

Within a week of completing a St John Ambulance first aid course in Middlesbrough, Peter Dixon, 59, used his newlyacquired knowledge to prevent his wife from choking to death.

The Middlesbrough couple’s story coincided with last night’s ITV1 advertisement, which highlighted that 140,000 people in the UK die every year in situations where first aid could have helped save their lives.

Research has shown that less than one in five people in the North-East have basic first aid skills.

Mr Dixon and his wife, Anne, 55, flew out to Spain for a holiday at the end of last month. Only a week previously he completed a first aid at work course through his employer at the Cleveland Shopping Centre, OCS group.

On their first night in Benidorm, Mrs Dixon started to choke during a meal.

Mr Dixon said: “I was shouting for help, but no one knew what to do and everyone was panicking.

Then I suddenly remembered I’d learnt exactly what to do. I thought she was a goner and I think she did too.”

Fred Owen, training manager for St John Ambulance in the North- East, said 900 people die of choking every year in the UK, “yet two out of three people would not know what to do”.

For first aid training details, call 0844-324 5535.