A woman with a lung disease who almost died because of air pollution is calling on the government to do more to tackle the problem.

Carole Whitbread was out walking her dogs on a sunny day on the Isle of Grain, when she suddenly became short of breath and collapsed on the pavement.

Eventually she managed to stand, but was unable to take more than three steps at a time, before needing to stop. It took her two hours to get home, a walk that normally takes 20 minutes.

The 57-year-old said: “Medical experts told me the pollution had inflamed my lungs, putting pressure on my heart. I was starved of air. If I hadn’t got help from the emergency doctor, I could have died. It was very frightening and I didn’t think I would recover.”

Mrs Whitbread was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in 2009, ending her 22-year career as a police officer. Adjusting to lung disease was a challenge as she had always been physically fit, regularly running and swimming.

“I was frequently out of breath. Some days were worse than others,” she said. “I assumed this related to the weather, humidity, or damp conditions. I never made the connection to air quality.

"COPD has restricted my life. Air pollution is now increasingly trapping me in my own home" - Carole Whitbread

“COPD has restricted my life. Air pollution is now increasingly trapping me in my own home, and there’s nothing the best doctors in the world can do about it.”

Mrs Whitbread is the chairman of Breathe Easy Medway, a support group for people with lung conditions, who meet once a month at the Free Evangelical Church Hall in Wigmore.

She said: “Until you’ve been through near-suffocation, you don’t know what a terrible feeling it is. My life changed forever after I collapsed because of air pollution. It’s an invisible danger. It nearly killed me.

“The experience has made me very cautious and nervous. I now always check the Defra pollution forecasts before judging if I can venture out. I never did that before. I thought that if you can’t see or smell pollution, it’s not there. I felt naïve. If the forecast is for moderate pollution, that’s it – I have to stay inside.”

Mrs Whitbread is joining a coalition of charities, including the British Lung Foundation and Client Earth, calling on the government to introduce a new Clean Air Act.

She added: “It’s down to the government to introduce laws to help improve air quality. It’s about motorists switching to low or zero emission vehicles and that won’t happen overnight. A new Clean Air Act will show they are taking tackling toxic air seriously.

“We need new legislation that protects all our health and puts in place alternatives that help us all make cleaner choices.”

Dr Penny Woods, chief executive of the British Lung Foundation, said: “This is a public health crisis. Poor air quality has contributed to 40,000 early deaths a year across the UK. It’s an invisible danger that hits hardest people with a lung condition, children and the elderly.

"We need urgent action from government; a fair and ambitious Clean Air Act with targets to reduce pollution. The government has shown that huge sums of money can be made available for transport projects. It’s about priorities, and the future health of the nation must be pushed to the top of the list.”