LIFE-saving equipment has been installed in a Teesside shopping centre.

Managers at the Castlegate Centre in Stockton said the new defibrillator would cut response time for heart attack victims by a potentially vital three minutes.

The installation of the £3,000 equipment, which is used to restart the heart in cases of cardiac arrest, is part of a scheme to see defibrillators deployed in shopping centres, bus stations and leisure centres around the region.

Staff at the shopping centre have already received training in operating the defibrillator.

Centre manager John Clift said: "Although we've only had one incident here in the time I've been in charge this should be seen as a resource for the whole high street. If someone collapses either in the centre or outside in the street and we reach them before the ambulance, it could mean the difference between life and death."

Stockton Rotary Club donated the equipment under the First Responder Scheme run by the British Heart Foundation and the Tees, North and East Yorkshire Ambulance Service (Tenyas).

Club president Bill Pickersgill said: "This is a vital piece of equipment and we're pleased to have been able to help."