THE decision to remove a life-saving defibrillator from a supermarket wall has been branded ‘dangerous’ and ‘risky’.

Community leaders have hit out after the Co-operative food store took down the parish council-funded device from the outside wall of their store in Bransgore this week.

Staff at the store say it was removed due to ‘a change in management policy’, but the chain failed to tell the ambulance service, council or local community responder team about the decision.

Parish and district councillor Richard Frampton said the store had put people’s lives at risk by not informing anyone.

The defibrillator was installed outside the Co-op in Bransgore in 2014.

Mike Jukes, group co-ordinator of Bransgore Community First Responders, said he noticed it had gone missing on Wednesday.

“I assumed it had been stolen but was told in the shop that because of a management policy it had to go”, Mr Jukes said.

“They are installing their own within the store but hadn’t told anyone. The frustration is that no-one knew, including the ambulance service and it was just sat in their store room.

“We’re now looking at another location and while I respect their policy, they are not open 24 hours a day for people to access their device.

“We will find somewhere else in the parade of shops to put it.”

Cllr Frampton said: “They told me it was a change in health and safety policy, not allowing things on the outside wall.

“It is absolutely disgusting. It is such a dangerous thing to do and not inform anyone about, just disgraceful.”

Bransgore Community First Responders are a group of volunteers trained to attend emergency calls received by the ambulance service.

A spokesman for the Co-op said: “The Co-op wrote to Christchurch Borough Council on October 6 in order to give advance notice of our plans.”

“The Co-op is meeting its obligations over defibrillator maintenance by replacing a very small number of devices with Co-op owned models.”