Fire fighters had to rescue a man who had fallen asleep while cooking in Cemetery Junction last night.

A crew from Wokingham Road rushed to the ground floor flat in London Road at 9.46pm after concerned neighbours dialled 999.

They spotted the man in his 30s through a window but failed to rouse him, despite shouting loudly.

The station's crew manager, David Grayson, said: "When we got there, we couldn't wake him up and his flat was filling with smoke so we had to break the door down and manhandle him out.

"The food he was cooking had been left on the stove for so long that the flat was full of smoke.

"The danger of that is that it sends the casualty into an even deeper sleep.

"The message we are trying to get out is don't leave cooking unattended and do not fall asleep, the smoke will send you into a deeper sleep and could kill you.

"This gentleman was recording a high carbon monoxide reading with the ambulance service who were called, as a result of smoke inhalation, which could have been fatal."

He added the man was taken to the Royal Berkshire Hospital and his condition is not believed to be life-threatening.