Easter Ross taxi driver's life-saving campaign extends to Tain pub

A taxi driver aiming to save lives by kitting his car out with a defibrillator has now set his sights on doing the same for his local pub.

David Purvis, who has been trading under the name DP Taxis since 2015, serves the areas of Tain and Dornoch using his two vehicles – a taxi and an eight seater private hire minibus.

Taking inspiration from the events of Euro 2020, the 53-year-old from Fearn has been crowdfunding to enable the purchase of the vital life-saving equipment.

Mr Purvis said: "I had been pondering the idea for a while. I first had the idea when watching the football the day Christian Eriksen collapsed on the field and I thought that having a defibrillator in the car would be a good idea.

"I could be flagged down at any point in the case of an emergency as my vehicles are on the road seven days a week for 10-12 hours a day sometimes."

Originally setting out to raise a sum of £520, Mr Purvis watched in amazement as donations exceeded £630, allowing him to purchase two defibrillators – one for each of his vehicles.

But having already raised the funds he needed, he was then approached by Keiran's Legacy, an Elgin-based charity who raise money to provide defibrillators to local communities in the north.

After hearing about the project, the charity generously agreed to donate a mobile AED (automated external defibrillator) to be installed in one of Mr Purvis' cars.

Mr Purvis says the donation has now allowed him to purchase a third AED, which he plans to donate to his local pub – the Star Inn in Tain.

Scott Crombie, who co-owns the Star Inn with Caroline Henderson, said: "Its something Caroline and I believe should be common place in most businesses, especially a pub such as ours where the majority of our patrons are from an older generation.

"We were delighted when David came up with the idea and we were only happy to contribute to his crowdfunding page. We were humbled to be asked to have one placed in the Star and it was an easy decision to accept.

"Better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have one. It will be available to the general public outside the pub too, of course."

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