A defibrillator in Dobcross is set to return to working order after the phone box it is stored in was destroyed.

The old red phone box at the junction of Ladcastle Road and Dobcross New Road was demolished when a car collided with it in October 2025.

Saddleworth Parish Council made an appeal, and SP Electricity North West has agreed to a quick reinstallation to support the local community. The defibrillator's power supply is set to be connected quickly after the phone box was replaced.

Parish Council Chair Barbara Beeley said: "I am delighted to see the company really contributing to the area."

Beeley said having defibrillators across Saddleworth is important for keeping people safe, and that they have recently been used in the area to save lives.

The project to install defibrillators in Dobcross began in March 2014, when Dobcross Village Community (DVC) member Alison Labrey attended a meeting to explore how the village could obtain the devices.

She secured an offer from the North West Ambulance Service, which agreed to provide two defibrillators free of charge if the DVC could raise funds to buy the heated, vandal-proof cabinets needed to house them.

BT allowed Saddleworth Parish Council to adopt both phone boxes, one outside The Swan Inn and the other at Ladcastle Lane. The defibrillator was installed in 2016.

Mark Mercer, of SP Electricity North West, said: "We are always looking for opportunities to put back into the communities we serve. Enabling a defibrillator to be reinstalled, as well helping to get a replacement heritage phone box, is just one of the ways we are looking to help support the community in Saddleworth."