A cool-headed postman has been hailed a first-class hero after saving a chronically-ill woman when a power cut left her without her oxygen supply.

Barbara Bradley, 65, was left gasping for breath when the blackout cut off the oxygen machine she needs to use for most of the day.

But passing postie Alan Regan went to her rescue by connecting her oxygen mask to an emergency cylinder she kept in her bedroom.

Mrs Bradley, who suffers from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, said Mr Regan was a hero.

She said: "I was panicking, which was making my breathing worse, but he was very calm and told me to sit down and just got on with connecting the cylinder.

"I was very relieved and grateful. He was lovely and had he not done what he did I would have been very ill."

Mrs Bradley, who is house-bound because of her illness, lost the power to her home in St Mary's Gardens, Wyke, Bradford, at 9am and was unable to move the oxygen cylinder from the bedroom to connect it.

She said: "I looked out and saw the postman walking down my path and asked him if he could help me. He came in and sorted it out in no time and I was fine. He even let me use his mobile phone so I could ring my daughter and alert her.

"When he had finished he just said, There you go,' and went on his way. He was very modest but he was a hero to me."

Mrs Bradley's daughter, Karen Fletcher, said: "By the time I got to mum the postman had done it all for her.

"He wouldn't leave her until he was sure she was all right. What he did was lovely and I am so grateful."

Mrs Fletcher, 45, of Bellhouse Avenue, Bierley, added: "I dread to think what may have happened if it were not for the kind and immediate actions of this wonderful postman."

But Mr Regan, 58, said it was all part of the service.

He said: "I only did what anybody else would have done. It wasn't a big deal.

"It only took a few minutes to connect the cylinder. I pretty much knew what I was doing because my father used to use a similar machine."

Mr Regan, of Low Moor, Bradford, has been a postman for more than seven years and has been delivering in the Wyke area for the past 12 months.

He said: "I have never had to do anything like this before but it is all part of the service. I am just glad I was there to help."

e-mail: steve.wright@bradford.newsquest.co.uk