RESTAURANT workers helped the emergency services save a dying man after he severed an artery in his arm when he punched a shop window.

Ronni Bellouti, a waiter at Chez Jules and Gianni Poletti, owner of Bollicini’s, joined friends of the man, police officers and an off duty female nurse in tending to the 20-year-old who collapsed in Northgate Street on Thursday evening.

Blood was spurting from the man’s right arm but Mr Bellouti applied pressure above the wound using a towel from his restaurant and Mr Poletti used his belt as a tourniquet while the nurse kneeled down to keep the local man talking until paramedics arrived.

He was taken by ambulance to the Countess of Chester Hospital where he was said to be in a stable condition at time of going to Press.

Witnesses believe the man had been drinking nearby with his girlfriend who told him the relationship was over, causing him to become upset.

He punched through the window of disused tile shop Arcadia which severed an artery then staggered up Northgate Street in front of the Joseph Benjamin restaurant where he fell to the ground. His girlfriend then became hysterical.

Waiter Ronni Bellouti from Chez Jules said: “He was arguing with his girlfriend. He turned around and put his fist through the glass.

“It must have been a three inch cut. It was like a fountain but he didn’t realise and was chasing after his girlfriend. She didn’t know and was just walking away from him.”

Mr Bellouti added: “He was lucky we were there. If nobody had been around he would have died in ten minutes.”

Police, who received the call about 6.10pm on Thursday, cordoned the area off as a potential crime scene. Customers in Joseph Benjamin moved away from the windows until the blood had been cleaned up.