A MAN who suffered a cardiac arrest as he drove down Orpington High Street has been reunited with the people who helped save his life.

56-year-old Steve Hattrill, of Darrick Wood Housing Estate, Farnborough, collapsed around noon on Saturday February 1.

As he lay slumped at the wheel of his car, Claire Smith and Leonie Parker-Hann rushed to help him, and wasted no time in calling an ambulance.

Leonie Parker-Hann, 43, of Clareville Road, Orpington, said: "Claire was walking past and a car hooted and made her look.

"She went to the passenger door and got in the car to help.

"She said: 'can someone dial 999'. So I got my mobile phone and dialled 999.

"The paramedics were fantastic. They were there so quickly.

"In the meantime the lady on the end of the phone was telling me what to do.

"She was asking me to tell Claire to check if Steve was breathing, to lie him down flat."

Mr Hattrill was taken to King's College Hospital, Denmark Hill, where he spent four days in intensive care.

He was in hospital for 15 days but has now returned home, having had three stents put in his heart.

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After meeting the two women, he said: "It was fantastic, I mean, how do you describe the experience of meeting people who helped save your life?

"I was passed out and slumped over in the front of my car and I woke up in hospital a few days later.

"But those two people I've never met before helped saved my life.

"People can just walk by when there is a crisis, they think: 'it is nothing to do with me'.

"If they'd done that I would have been dead. I am very grateful.

"I think they are fantastic people."

Mrs Parker-Hann added: "When I found out he was at home and recovering I thought it was fantastic news.

"It shows that the passers-by who helped out, the paramedics who came to the scene, everyone pulled together to save a life."