Within minutes of a man collapsing and dying outside a town pub, rumours started circulating on the internet that it was ‘can man’ Chris Ewell.

While the Sittingbourne charity worker was at the scene outside the Globe and Engine pub, Berry Street, it wasn’t him.

In fact, the 57-year-old was the first person to rush to the aid of the 46-year-old and one of two people who gave him CPR.

Mr Ewell, of Cherry Close, Milton Regis, said: "I was in the pub having a drink at the time. I looked out the door and saw him on the floor so I shouted to the landlady Maxine to call an ambulance.

"I started CPR. A young girl who was passing by came over who also knew CPR so we worked together. She was very, very good. She kept calm and she was only a young girl.

"The ambulance arrived. They tried working on him for a good half an hour but they couldn’t revive him.

"He was on his own. He wasn’t a customer at the pub. It just happened while he was out and about on his travels.

"I didn’t know him but I’ve seen him before. I recognised his face."

Mr Ewell, who is best known for his collecting of empty tins on his trike, found out later that night that people thought he had died.

He said: "People coming in to the pub were dumbfounded that I was still alive.

"Then when I was riding the bike around the next day, people were beeping me and waving at me.

"I was only out there giving him compressions but obviously people saw my bike outside the pub and put two and two together and made five."

It is the second time in two years that Mr Ewell has tried to save someone’s life.

The last time he carried out CPR was when found his elderly neighbour Burt Fuller collapsed at his home.

Unfortunately, Mr Fuller died.

Ali Knowler, 24, from Faversham, was the young woman who helped Mr Ewell carry out CPR.

She said: "My sincere condolences go to his family and his friends. I believe in the right to preserve life, and I did what I could. My sympathy and thoughts are with his family."

Two bunches of flowers left outside the Globe & Engine have been stolen.

It’s understood they were placed there by the landlady of the pub and another woman on Saturday but were gone by the following morning.

• The man who died was said to be Mark Alliband, of Albany Road, Sittingbourne. A post mortem held on Tuesday revealed a ruptured aneurysm as the cause of death.