We saw a man dying in Tachbrook Market in Pimlico and were the only two who bothered with CPR to save his life

Westminster City councillors Geoff Barraclough and Ed Pitt Ford told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) they had been out campaigning when they noticed a man “white as a sheet” lying unconscious in the middle of Tachbrook Market in Pimlico on February 27.

Cllr Barraclough said the man had been lying face down with his eyes open between stalls and that no one approached him to help or called 999. The Labour councillor said: “So I called the emergency services. They said, ‘turn him over. Is he breathing?’ [I said] ‘No, he’s not breathing’. ‘Can you get a defibrillator?’ and I knew where one was. It was just around the corner at the GP.”

The councillor said as he looked up he saw fellow Westminster councillor Pitt Ford and told him to grab the defibrillator from Victoria Medical Centre on Upper Tachbrook Street. Cllr Ford, a Conservative councillor, returned with the life-saving equipment and a doctor moments later.

Cllr Barraclough said: “I was, meanwhile, doing very amateur CPR, as directed by the call handler. I had never done that before but hopefully I might have done some good. Fortunately, the GP then came along with the defibrillator and began doing CPR in the more professional manner, but she couldn’t find the pulse, but the man was clearly dead or bordering on it. Then the ambulance crew arrived and they did their wonders with injections and defibrillators and they brought him around. I checked, this was 15 minutes after I called in the emergency call for the first time to 999 and brought the guy round. So, very impressive work from the ambulance crew.”

Noorzia Amiri had been covering a shift for a friend at Fara Kids boutique on Tachbrook Street when she saw ambulance workers start resuscitating the man. She said: “There was a man on the floor and we saw the police and the ambulance as well but because we had customers we couldn’t go out. I was shocked because I am diabetic and I thought it might have been an old person who had something happen to their health.”

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The councillors, who hail from opposite sides of the political aisle, were told the man was taken to hospital and survived. They suspect he suffered a heart attack but hadn’t taken the man’s name or details so they could check in on him.

Footage seen by the LDRS shows three ambulance workers and a woman in plain clothes performing CPR for several minutes outside a convenience store on Tachbrook Street on February 27. A crowd of onlookers were gathered around the man as the ambulance crew continued with chest compressions. The man, who was wearing grey long trousers and a black jacket, is seen lying flat on his back with his shirt torn open.

Other footage shows the man turned to his side and police arriving at the scene. Cllr Barraclough said he almost didn’t intervene after initially thinking the man had become ill after ingesting too much drugs and alcohol. He said: “But it was quite clear from a cursory examination that something more serious had gone on. Clearly, at that point, you’ve got to do something, right?

“And I was slightly unnerved by the fact that nobody in the area had done that already and would urge anybody watching this [that] if you do see somebody in trouble, call 999. It’s much better to be safe than sorry.”

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Cllr Pitt Ford said: “When I saw someone lying down on the ground, I was trying to wrack my brain to remember my CPR. I was kind of glad I got the job of going off to get the defibrillator.

“But, similarly, I have come across bodies on the street and nudged to check if they’re alive because I think it’s quite important we don’t just walk past.”

Cllr Barraclough urged onlookers not to record people receiving medical help in the street. He said: “One thing that was also slightly concerning was that when the ambulance crew was ripping the guy’s shirt open, giving him injections, CPR and all the rest of it, the people in the vicinity had their phones out and were filming.

“And the ambulance crew, quite rightly, got rather annoyed about this. It shows a distinct lack of respect so, again, a message to anyone [reading] this, please don’t do that. Please show some respect.”