Action planned as 'more than half of town's defibrillators don't work'

Greatest Hits Radio can reveal action is now being taken over the number of defibrillators in Teignmouth that don’t work.

One of the defibrillators in Teignmouth which is not working. This one is opposite the town's famous pier
Author: Andrew KayPublished 14th Oct 2020
Last updated 14th Oct 2020

Of the seven in the town centre, four don’t work and two are still in place.

Last night town councillors voted to look into the issue - including contacting the Heartbeat charity, which manage some of the town's current working ones, to see whether they could get involved going forward.

Sue Cox, who runs Sea Sports South West, which is now fundraising to get the one outside their premises repaired, said: "The problem is now we've got a box that looks as if it might save somebody's life and there's nothing in it.

"It's almost worse than not having one."

Town councillor David Cox said: "I think what's happened is people have had heart attacks, their friends have raised money and they've done a defibrillator and two or three years later there's nobody maintaining them - and there's nobody having any responsibility for it."