THOSE travelling by rail will today have the chance to learn Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) at four Scottish stations as part of European Restart a Heart Day.

Supported by ScotRail Alliance, volunteers from the charity Save a Life for Scotland will be on-hand to teach life-saving skills to staff, customers and station visitors between 12-3pm at the Aberdeen, Haymarket, Kilmarnock and Inverness stations.

The initiative comes as the British Heart Foundation (BHF) warned that a lack of public knowledge of CPR could be costing lives and that nearly four in 10 Scots say they lack the skills and knowledge to save a life.

Around 3500 people are treated by the Scottish Ambulance service each year for out-of-hospital cardiac arrests and the Save a Life for Scotland charity is aiming to have half a million Scots trained to administer CPR by 2020 in the event of someone suffering a heart attack.

Untreated heart attacks can potentially lead to cardiac arrest and the charity is hoping today’s day of awareness can put them on their way to reaching that target. Suffering a cardiac arrest outside of hospital is the most common life-threatening medical emergency but of the 3500 people living in Scotland who have resuscitation attempted each year, only about one in 20 survives.

The ScotRail Alliance’s director of safety and sustainability David Lister said: “I encourage as many staff and customers as possible to learn the skills of CPR. Sadly, we never know when we may need them and they may help save a life.

“We are pleased to support the work of Save a Life for Scotland.”

The initiative comes as new data released by the BHF found that six in 10 Scots would be willing to attempt to save a life if they saw someone suffering from cardiac arrest.

The research conducted by the University of Warwick also found that those equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge are three times more likely to perform CPR.

The main reasons for people’s’ reluctance to perform CPR were a fear of causing more harm than good (47 per cent) and a lack of skills and knowledge (39 per cent).

A mere 15 per cent were able to identify the two signs of a cardiac arrest: irregular or a cessation of breathing, and someone being unresponsive after collapsing.

As a result the BHF is calling on Scotland’s schools to apply for free training kits in order to create a nation of lifesavers, and is working with the Scottish Government and NHS Scotland, as a partner of Save a Life for Scotland, in order to meet that aim.

James Cant, Director of BHF Scotland, said: “Every second counts, and it simply isn’t enough to hope that someone who knows CPR is present.”