THE dramatic efforts to save the life of a Ripon greengrocer who suffered three heart attacks features in an episode of a documentary following the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

Monday night’s episode of Helicopter ER on UKTV, shows the story of John Simmonds, who has sold fruit and vegetables for more than 40 years from his mobile greengrocers van.

He was loading the van up one morning last October when he suffered a massive heart attack.

“I remember being at the wholesalers and loading the van and then the next thing I was looking up at this lovely nurse and wondering what on earth was happening,” said the father-of-three.

Mr Simmonds’ heart was shocked back to life twice by a road ambulance crew before Yorkshire Air Ambulance (YAA) paramedics arrived to coordinate the efforts to save the popular tradesman’s life.

With Mr Simmonds too unstable to fly, YAA paramedic Matt Syrat went with him in on the road journey to Harrogate Royal Infirmary during which his heart stopped a third time.

YAA serves 5 million people across Yorkshire and carries out more than 1,300 missions every year.

The charity operates two Airbus H145 helicopters and needs to raise £12,000 every day to keep saving lives.

YAA operates two helicopters, G-YAAC and G-YOAA out of RAF Topcliffe, near Thirsk, and patients are transferred to the nearest major trauma centres, flying at speeds of up to 160mph.

Mr Simmonds said: “Everyone was absolutely brilliant and I know I’ve been very very lucky,” said the 67-year-old, who decided to sell the van after having a pacemaker fitted.

He added: “The doctors didn’t think it was a good thing for me to continue lifting sacks of fruit and vegetables every day but I could have opened a card shop with all the well wishes I got from people which was really touching.

“You see the Air Ambulance flying overhead quite often and always feel sorry for the person who is so ill to need it, never thinking that one day it would be me.”

The father-of-three still provides a gardening and hedge-cutting service but is enjoying spending more time with his family and following his beloved Leeds United.

The dramatic efforts to save Mr Simmonds’ life can be seen in Monday’s episode of Helicopter ER at 9pm on Really.

The series is made by York-based Air Television who have won two Royal Television Society awards for their work on the programme.