Jordan Financial Management installed the device – which gives an electric shock to the heart of someone who is in cardiac arrest – on the outside of their office in the historic Guildhall, on Lichfield Road, opposite Sutton Coldfield fire station.

The firm has even written to local residents in the surrounding area to let them know that the defibrillator is there if they need it in an emergency.

Managing director Mike Jordan said: “We are Sutton’s longest-established financial advisers and consider ourselves to be very much a part of the community and this was something we thought would make a positive contribution to the community in general.

“We had read stories where someone had suffered a cardiac arrest and died simply because there wasn’t access to a defibrillator, and we thought that, as we’re in a very central position in Sutton, this would be an ideal place to put one for public.

“We are opposite the fire station, but we understand there is only a defibrillator there when the fire engine’s in, and we’re right next to Sutton college where there is also one of the devices but that’s inside the campus, rather than open to the public.

“Our offices are on one of the busiest routes into the town centre, both in the daytime and during the night-time economy, and we get a lot of people going past.

“We have dropped off a letter to all of the businesses and houses around us to let people know that it is there.”

To use the defibrillator, members of the public simply have to ring 999, and they will be given a key code to unlock the cabinet and retrieve the device. The machine then provides full and simple spoken instructions on how it should be used.

Mike added: “Really, it was a case of deciding to do something good for the community now, rather than acting after some tragic event and thinking ‘I wish we had done that.’

“I genuinely hope it’s never needed, but it’s good to have it here just in case. I’d urge other businesses across the area to do the same, because the more of these defibrillators there are, the more lives can be saved.

“They are not hugely expensive, and if more businesses in key locations such as ours chose to invest in one for public use, we could really significantly improve the cover available.”