A former policeman who suffered a medical condition while riding in Hamilton has hailed the quick-thinking actions of people who were first on the scene.

Peter Shaw, from Paget, also believed his exercise regimen aided his recovery from a heart condition, which he suffered on September 27 while on his bike at the traffic lights on Church Street near its junction with Dismont Drive.

He said the incident has become “a blank spot” in his memory and he cannot recall anything that happened immediately before or after the incident that Friday morning.

He said: “You never know when your time is up, and my time was up that day, for a very short time.”

The 74-year-old said: “I have no idea what happened that day, I cannot remember anything from the day before either.

“I have got very vague recollection of the Saturday and the Sunday, so this is four days I’ve lost.”

Mr Shaw, who retired at the rank of sergeant after he served in the Bermuda Police Service from 1971 to 1999, said he contacted police this week to find out if there were CCTV cameras in the area.

He said he wanted to learn more about the incident so that he could have a better understanding of what happened.

Retracing the steps he would have most likely taken, Mr Shaw said he routinely travelled to Hamilton on weekdays and, based on his Friday schedule, would have stopped for coffee at a spot in the city.

He said: “What I do is after having coffee with my mates, I would get on my bike and turn left onto Victoria Street, then left on Wesley Street and then Church Street to head out of town.”

Mr Shaw added: “I know my routine, if I had coffee at that spot about 10 o‘clock and then go around the circuit, I would have been riding slowly to get out of town.”

He said the Monday after the incident, he remembered being prepared for medical evacuation to Boston for additional treatment and it was at that point that he began to gather his thoughts.

Mr Shaw said he was informed by staff at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital that he had suffered an accident.

With the family’s cat, Zara, by his side, he recalled: “I was absolutely shocked when they told me about the whole thing.”

He added that he had a few bruises on his hands and feet, which he sustained during the fall.

Ricardo Lamb, an employee of the City of Hamilton, and Devena Lightbourne, a caregiver, were among several people who responded with cardiopulmonary resuscitation techniques when the senior collapsed on Church Street.

Mr Shaw, who will turn 75 in three weeks, said: “They saved me, it just so happened that they were there and I am absolutely grateful for that because had it been anywhere else, I would have been on my own.

“It’s so good that there were three or four people there and they knew what to do.”

Mr Shaw said he met Mr Lamb for coffee and he also spoke to Ms Lightbourne, they provided him with accounts of what transpired.

He said he spoke to and thanked another man, Stephen Mayor, who assisted that day.

Mr Shaw said that tests in Boston indicated he was healthy, but he noted that prior to the incident, he suffered from a heart condition called arrhythmia, which is an abnormal heart rhythm.

“It has never gone this far or affected me and it hasn’t acted up or done anything to me before,” he said.

Mr Shaw added that over the next six months, he will be monitored by a cardiologist.

He said: “I’ve got a pacemaker and a defibrillator combination that will set me back up again.

“It’s just one of those things, I never had anything like this before.”

Mr Shaw said he maintained an exercise routine that included walking to the beach and around the hills in Paget.

“It takes about an hour of walking and I do that two times or maybe three times each week,” he added.

He said he also exercised twice weekly at the gym. Mr Shaw noted: “I need to find out when I will start exercising again and I’ll probably start walking or a regimen of some sort that involves walking.

“The regimen which I maintain, that set me up to get through something like this.”

He said that while in the BPS, he was on bike duty for some 12 years before he moved to the operations centre for seven years.

Mr Shaw pointed out: “I am not an amateur on the bikes and I am always trying to be a fit guy.

“Many years ago, I used to play cricket for the police from about 1971 to 1976 and then I used to play first class cricket.

“When I wanted to get back into it, I decided I was not fit enough so I started training and jogging.”

Mr Shaw said he competed in three editions of the New York Marathon and he also participated in the Rocky Mountain relay in Colorado, which stretched over 180 miles.

He said: “I used to do lobster diving as well so I’m always into something to keep fit.”

Mr Shaw highlighted the importance of CPR and added that he had training in the procedure while in the police service.

Mr Shaw said people should try to exercise as much as possible to maintain fitness, and added: “I’m not saying you have to do a lot but you got to do something to keep the heart going.”