THIS pub landlord seems to always be in the right place at the right time.

Not content with saving a man drowning in a Thai swimming pool, Dave Simmonds has now stepped in to help a man who fell ill at his pub.

Mr Simmonds, who runs the Coach and Horses, in Chapel Street, Billericay, picked up his lifesaving skills on a three-day course in January.

He said: “I thought it would be useful. It’s something I hadn’t done since I was a boy scout, but I didn’t expect to use them so soon.”

His new-found skills were first put to the test three months later, on holiday, when a Belgian tourist got into difficulties in a swimming pool in Thailand.

Mr Simmonds, 36, was at a bar when the man sank to the bottom of the pool. He and three others jumped into action to drag the man’s lifeless body from the water.

He said: “He was gone – he wasn’t breathing. He had swallowed quite a lot of water. We managed to pump some water out of him and got him in the recovery position. We managed to revive him.

“It was just shocking – he was pretty much dead. He was in intensive care for about four or five days.

“Afterwards, it kind of hits you a little bit, but at the time you don’t think like that. You think, what can I do to help? Without that course, I wouldn’t have had as much confidence.”

Mr Simmonds put his skills to the test once more when an elderly man fell ill at his pub, last week. Paramedics were called, but the man made a full recovery without needing too much medical help.

He said: “He was very grey. I guessed it was circulation or blood pressure. We carried on talking to him and made sure he was ok. He gradually got a bit more colour and he was able to have his dessert, as if nothing had happened.”

Martyn Everett, course leader at the health, safety and hygiene training centre, in Billericay, said he had talked him into doing the course one evening in the pub.

He added: “It’s not often you get one like this. Dave is a hero.

“It is a classic case of the value of doing the course.”