FIREFIGHTERS had to break into a block of flats when a young woman locked herself out with the oven left on.

The panicked resident, beleived to be in her mid 20s, raised the alarm at 10.30pm last night (Tuesday) when she became trapped outside her third floor apartment in Eastern Avenue, east Reading while cooking pizza.

Crews from Wokingham Road fire station used a ladder to get to the window before climbing in and turning off the appliance before any damage could be done.

Crew manager James Blake said: "She did the right thing by calling us as it could have caught alight."