A father from St Albans who lost his son to asthma eight years ago is urging schools to introduce live saving equipment.

Peter Curtis has been working hard to bring asthma and allergy awareness into schools since his son Alex died of an acute asthma attack on February 6, 2007 aged 17.

The 69-year-old set up the Alex Curtis Trust in memory of his son, who attended the Nicholas Breakspear School in Colney Heath Lane.

The Trust was influential in bringing about a change in the law, which allow generic asthma reliever inhalers in schools.

Mr Curtis has been visiting schools across the county delivering talks to make people aware of how serious the condition can be.

He said: "It is so important to keep Alex’s name alive. I said from the very start that I would never let his memory die.

"I want to ensure no one else dies in the same way.

"Before I lost Alex I didn’t really understand just how dangerous it was.

"The scenario we went through was the furthest from my mind - I didn’t know you could lose people from it."

Mr Curtis, a retired lawyer and former nurse, has so far been invited into 60 schools across Hertfordshire, and is hoping to visit more over the next few years.

To coincide with World Asthma Day, which was on Tuesday, Mr Curtis said he wants more schools to introduce equipment.

He added: "The problem is that the change is voluntary and schools have to be made aware.

"The fact that emergency kits can now be legally placed in schools could be life saving if an asthma suffering pupil either forgets the inhaler or finds that theirs is empty at a time they need it most."