A woman who was too big to be lifted by paramedics had to be pushed down her stairs by firefighters.

The crew had to slide the overweight woman onto a sheet usually used to catch people falling from buildings and attach ropes to it so they could lift her over her bannister and carry her down the stairs.

It is not the first time Sutton firefighters have been asked to remove an overweight person from their home and a spokesman said similar incidents are becoming more common, describing it as "a sign of the times".

Paramedics had been called to the woman's home in Rougemont Road on the St Helier Estate as she was unwell at about 6am today.

But they found they could not carry her down the stairs as she was too big for them to lift so, firefighters from Sutton were called.

A crew member from Sutton fire station said: "We get more and more of these lately, it's a sign of the times, I think."

The woman, who is thought to have suffered a fit, was taken to nearby St Helier Hospital.

 

TODAY'S TOP SUTTON STORIES