The Wiltshire based explorer David Hempleman-Adams was so impressed with the easy-to-use defibrillator he was trained on at Wiltshire St John Ambulance he ordered one to take on expeditions with him.

Mr Hempleman-Adams, who is also a St John volunteer, called in at the charity’s HQ on Hopton industrial estate in Devizes last Thursday to take delivery of the machine, which St John Ambulance is rolling out to communities all over the county.

Mr Hempleman-Adams, who lives in Box, said: “Every shopping precinct, pub, restaurant and railway station should have one of these. You can’t do any harm with it – it won’t let you shock anyone who doesn’t need it – and you could be saving a life.

“One time when I was on Everest a man collapsed and we didn’t have the wherewithal to save him.

“If we’d had one of these fantastic little machines we might have been able to do something for him.

“It’s not something you think about and is only after something goes wrong that you regret not having the facilities to do the job.”

John Cavanagh, the regional director of St John Ambulance’s commercial training division, is urging local businesses to take up the offer of one of these Automated External Defibril-lators and the training to go with it.

He said: “The machine comes with written and audio instructions how to use it but we recognise that if people are trained with it, they will be more confident in its use.”

Mr Hempleman-Adams added: “I want to make sure my three girls can use it so that if anything happens to me they can give me a whack with it.”

For more on the AED and the courses visit the St John Ambulance site at www.wiltshire.sja.org.uk