A man has met the paramedics who saved his life after he had a cardiac arrest.

Colin Goff, 64, was in a reception at a vets with his wife Janiene in Watford on December 12 last year when he collapsed.

Mr Goff fell into a cardiac arrest and had to be resuscitated with three shocks from a defibrillator.

But he required a further four shocks to restart his heart as the ambulance made its way to Watford General Hospital.

Mr Goff, a retired chauffeur, has no recollection of the incident and he woke up five days later after having four stents fitted at Harefield Hospital.

On March 27, he was reunited with the East of England ambulance staff; Steve Cutler, Lloyd McCarthy, and Ricky Kadoo, who saved his life.

His wife Janiene said of the incident: “There was no warning or pain. I put him in the recovery position and realised he had stopped breathing. One of the veterinary nurses started CPR. I have never been so frightened in my life."

Mr Goff, who has given up smoking since the arrest, has thanked the paramedics and the nurse who gave him a "second chance at life".

He said: “It is like a second birth. I have been given a new lease of life and I am not going to smoke in this one.”