'I just turned into a robot,' CPR lifesaver says

A gym worker has said he switched into automatic mode when he successfully performed CPR on a client for nearly half an hour.

Pete Tonkin, now aged 63, suffered a cardiac arrest at the Queen's Park gym in Bournemouth in February 2025.

Tom Guest, 25, said he worked on him for 26 minutes before paramedics arrived.

He said: "There was crowds of people around and... I had comments telling me it didn't seem like it was me in control, it was just robotic actions and following through with what you've trained for."

Tonkin, who has since fully recovered, said he was jogging on a machine on 19 February and "next thing I know, I'm in hospital".

He said the cardiac arrest came without warning, with no prior symptoms or extreme exercising.

"My doctor said it was an extraordinary event," he added. "But I think the extraordinary event was how Tom acted like he did and saved my life."

Guest said he sprang into action when the gym's panic alarm sounded.

He said: "It was so clear from first laying eyes on how he was that it was a cardiac arrest and it was so vital to get directly on to the chest compressions."

Guest continued CPR after delivering an electric shock from the gym's automated external defibrillator.

He said: "Nothing can prepare you for actually dealing with that situation.

"In the moment, I just turned into a robot. It's what you train for."

Tonkin, from Bournemouth, said he had nominated Guest for a Royal Humane Society award and also gave him a bottle of whisky.

"How do you thank someone enough when they save your life?" he said.

The pair attended an event at the Littledown Centre in Bournemouth on Wednesday to raise the profile of CPR and defibrillator training.

University Hospitals Dorset, which organised the event, said CPR techniques could treble the chance of a patient surviving.