A Gloucestershire business equipment firm has made an investment in a piece of kit that they hope is never used either by themselves or any of their customers.

Staverton-based Robert Hall Business Equipment have invested more than £1,000 to install a defibrillator at their Ashville Business Park base where they employ 24 staff.

But as purchasing manager Stuart Hall explained, he hopes that the investment is a complete waste of money and the new bit of kit is never used.

Mr Hall said: "A couple of members of staff went on a first aid course recently and that brought it home to us how vital a piece of kit a defib is.

"By performing manual CPR the survival rate for a patient is somewhere between six to eight per cent.

"Using a defibrillator that increases to 70 per cent, so we felt it was an important piece of kit for us to have, not only for our staff but for our neighbours to have access to too."

Easy to use and automated to ensure that shocks are only delivered if there is no pulse in a patient, the defibrillator's location is recorded and stored by the Ambulance Service.

That means that if a 999 call is made nearby, the operator can guide the caller to the kit and give an access code to unlock it to ensure that it can be used speedily.

And while it offers peace of mind knowing that chances of survival in case of the worst happening have been improved, Mr Hall hopes that the £1,300 investment is never needed.

He said: "We said when we installed it that we hope it's a complete waste of money and that it's never used.

"If we never use it, it's a great thing but it is undoubtedly a great thing to have, just in case the worst happens."