A PAIR of employees at a Kendal supermarket have been thanked after they leapt into action to help a woman who was having a heart attack.

Abby Carradus and Taila Stephenson, both 22 and from Kendal, rushed out into the car park of Asda on Burton Road after a shopper raised the alarm about a woman in difficulty.

It was not initially known that the casualty was having a heart attack, but Ms Carradus and bakery section leader Ms Stephenson nevertheless called an ambulance and made sure the casualty stayed put.

Ms Carradus, service section leader, said: "We got a first aid call to say that a lady was struggling to breathe.

"We just wanted to make sure she was alright.

"She was fine sat in the car, but when she went to stand up she was breathing really heavily.

"We decided to call an ambulance to check her over as we didn't want her to drive home.

"She kept saying 'I'm fine, I'm fine, I'll drive home' and we were like 'no, you're not going anywhere'. We stayed with her talking to her until an ambulance arrived."

The lady was taken to the Royal Lancaster Infirmary with what was believed to be a chest infection. However, it later turned out to be a heart attack.

An Asda spokesman said the woman had since made a good recovery.

In a letter to the store, the casualty's daughter said she would be 'eternally grateful' for the 'quick-thinking and empathy' of Ms Carradus and Ms Stephenson.

"These kind and thoughtful ladies may well have saved my mother's life when they stayed with her for over an hour despite my mother's protestations that she wanted to go home," said the letter.

"My mother was suffering from severe breathlessness and was having what we later found out to be a heart attack."

The customer's daughter also said there were not 'adequate words' to thank Ms Carradus and Ms Stephenson enough for their actions.

Rachael Maplethorpe, customer trading manager at the store, said: "Abby and Taila were amazing.

"After assessing the lady they felt she needed urgent medical attention so called for an ambulance and waited with her until the ambulance arrived.

"We believe that things could have been very different had they had not have done what they did.

"Without a doubt they potentially saved this lady's life."