A LIFESAVING device has gone missing from York city centre.

The public defibrillator has disappeared from its cabinet next to the York Rowing Club at some point in the last fortnight, according to the Yorkshire Ambulance Service.

Neil Marsay, community defibrillation officer at Yorkshire Ambulance Service, said defibrillators are used at least 100 times each month in Yorkshire, and their locations are checked every two weeks.

He said that although the unit was missing, authorities did not believe the defibrillator had been stolen or its disappearance was caused by vandals.

He said: "A member of the public may have taken the defibrillator to an incident and not informed us afterwards. We are hoping that it is maybe in a business premises somewhere around Lendal Bridge and that someone has simply forgotten to contact us.

"We are appealing to anyone in the area who knows the whereabouts of the defibrillator to get in touch. It is a community resource funded by York Rowing Club and they would be very grateful for its safe return."

Anyone with information about the whereabouts of the defibrillator, or who can help the Yorkshire Ambulance Service track it down can contact Neil by emailing neil.marsay@nhs.net