The swift action of a first aid volunteer saved the life of her fiancé and fellow St John Ambulance worker, who was choking on his lunch during a rugby match.

The charity has now praised the actions of its volunteer Jo Edwards who saved the life of Tim Ward and is using the incident to stress the importance of more people getting first aid training.

The Keighley couple both bought burgers for their lunch and had just settled in their seats to watch Bradford Bulls play Hull Kingston Rovers when Jo noticed Tim was red-faced with bulging eyes and blue lips.

She quickly realised he was choking and asked him to lean forward and did five sharp back slaps between his shoulder blades with the heel of her hand as her training had taught her.

The charity said her swift action dislodged the burger just in time to prevent Mr Ward from losing consciousness.

Mr Ward said: “I wasn’t just finding it hard to breathe, the burger was completely lodged in my throat so no air was going in or out.

“I couldn’t cough the food up so I was really panicking and started to see sparkling lights in my vision.

“I think I was about two or three seconds away from losing consciousness when, thanks to Jo’s actions, the burger dislodged enough for me to gasp for air.

“We’ve both been St John Ambulance volunteers for 13 years but neither of us had thought about a day when one of us would need to save the life of the other.

“It’s not a nice thought but that’s why first aid is so important. Jo saved my life that day and I hope others read my story and do the training – just in case you need to save the life of a loved one.”

A fairytale ending could be on the cards as Mr Ward proposed to Miss Edwards at a Bradford Bulls game in the middle of the pitch ten years ago while they were both on duty as St John Ambulance volunteers.

Simon Dunn, regional director at St John Ambulance, said: “About 58 per cent of people wouldn’t know what to do if faced with a medical emergency and a quarter would do nothing which sadly means that up to 140,000 lives are lost each year because of a lack of first aid knowledge.

“Thankfully Tim isn’t part of that statistic and Jo’s actions should be praised. It’s a story with a happy ending and proves that first aid can be the difference between a life lost and a life saved.”