A man was found asleep in bed this morning with a fire raging in his kitchen and his smoke alarm going off.

The fire started in the kitchen of the property, on Prince Road in Selhurst, after the man failed to turn his cooker off before going to sleep.

Neighbours called 999 at 7.30am after hearing the alarm and fire fighters woke the man on arrival.

The man, believed to be in his 40s, was taken to Mayday Hospital suffering from smoke inhalation.

A spokesman at Woodside Fire Station said: “It was lucky he had a smoke alarm. In another 5 or 10 minutes it could have been a very different story.”