A MERSEYSIDE headteacher is backing a new health campaign after almost dying of a heart attack – because he didn’t have the change for a hospital car park.

The campaign invites the nation to experience how it feels to have a heart attack through their own television set.

Billboards are going up across the region today heralding the TV first from the British Heart Foundation (BHF), which will raise awareness of heart attack symptoms, and asks viewers to “watch their own heart attack”.

The two-minute TV advert will air on August 10 during the break of Midsomer Murders on ITV1.

Every year in the UK, almost a quarter of a million people suffer heart attacks, a third of whom die before reaching hospital.

The BHF campaign aims to show people how important it is to recognise heart attack symptoms and urge people to call 999 immediately when they experience them.

Michael Collins, 52, headteacher of St Mary’s prep school in Blundellsands, understands the importance of acting quickly.

He was driving home from work 18 months ago when he started to get chest pains and put it down to indigestion.

Mr Collins drove past Arrowe Park Hospital in Wirral but didn’t have any change to pay for the car park so carried on home. By the time he arrived home, he crawled through the door on his hands and knees and his wife immediately called 999.

The married father-of-one, from Irby, said: “My father died of a heart attack at the age of 42 so I have always been very conscious of it.

“When I had a heart attack, I felt very hot and clammy and it was like an elephant was standing on my chest. I was told it was a big heart attack and if I hadn’t got to hospital when I did, it could have been a very different outcome.”

Jean Johnson, 63, of Southport, is also supporting the campaign. She was at a friend’s house when she started to feel unwell. She was cold and clammy, light-headed and had a pain in her jaw and chest. She thought it was food poisoning and her daughter took her home and she went in to cardiac arrest.

She said: “I survived because I acted quite quickly. Make sure you watch the advert so you can recognise the signs – these two minutes could save your life.”

The billboards inviting people to watch their own heart attack will be positioned in Liverpool Lime Street Station and train stations in Sefton and Wirral.

Betty McBride, director of policy and communications at the BHF, said: “We’re bringing heart attacks to life in living rooms across the UK because understanding how one could feel could mean the difference between life and death.”

Supporting the campaign is well-known television presenter Angela Rippon, 64, who lost her father from a heart attack three years ago.

She said: “I know exactly how heart breaking it can be to lose a loved one from a heart attack. My message to people is that you owe it to yourselves and your loved ones to tune into ITV1 on August 10. This could be the most important two minutes of television you ever see – I know I’ll be watching.”

lizawilliams