A LIFESAVING machine could finally be fitted in a town centre after wary leaseholders appeared to make a sudden u-turn.

Abingdon Lions Club spent the past few months struggling to persuade Aberdeen Asset Management to allow a defibrillator to be installed Bury Street precinct - but the global investment company seemed to have a change of heart following an article in the Oxford Mail’s sister paper.

The Abingdon Herald reported on Wednesday that the defibrillator, which the Lions planned to place outside Wildwood Kitchen, had so far been snubbed by Aberdeen.

The company appeared to be unsure of its responsibility when housing the defibrillator in the precinct, sparking sadness from campaigners who said the capabilities of the machine were misunderstood.

But just hours after the article was printed, Lions president Ron Skinner received an email from the company’s surveyor that said: “I understand from recent press in Abingdon that you are not happy with the landlord regarding your request to install a defibrillator in Bury Street.

"We did not at any point refuse the request but just explained what this would involve before full permission could be granted.

"If you still wish to install the defibrillator than the landlord is happy for you to do so.”

Mr Skinner said: “For most of last year I was chasing them on this. It is a relief to get a decision.”

Abingdon Lions raised £3,300 to buy the defibrillator – the seventh it has funded in the town – and wants to put it outside an unused phone booth at Wildwood, which was always in favour of the move.

Mr Skinner said he had all but given up on getting permission from Aberdeen Asset after ‘contacting them to and fro for months’.

He added: “They said they needed to go to the police and solicitors and check liability. Finally a couple of weeks ago I said we’ve had enough of waiting around and delaying – it’s something that is going to save lives.

“The phone cabinet was the most central point we could get. Wildwood were over the moon to have it and happy to supply the electricity.”

South Central Ambulance Service commander Dick Tracey, known as Oxfordshire’s ‘Mr Defibrillator’, had previously said he was ‘really quite saddened’ by Aberdeen’s apparent reluctance to accommodate the machine.

Mr Tracey has spent three years campaigning for more public defibrillators in the county and said: “I wonder if there is still a lack of understanding about defibrillators. They can’t hurt people and won’t shock unless someone is in cardiac arrest.

“There may still be that fear factor in some quarters. It’s not so common these days as there is more awareness that defibrillators save lives and the fact they are easy to use, but of course there could still be those fears.”

In his initial statement to the Herald, Aberdeen Asset Management spokesperson James Thorneley said: “The owner of whichever wall it is attached to is likely to require assurances in terms of whose responsibility it is to maintain the equipment and whose liability it is if the equipment does not work correctly when used.”

He added that the company has always been ‘happy to help’ find a location for the machine.