An elderly man had a lucky escape after he fell asleep whilst smoking a cigarette on Monday morning.

The 79-year-old was smoking in his chair when a fire started caused by the cigarette or ash dropping. Fortunately, a driver arrived to take the man to an appointment and woke him up by knocking on the door, meaning the fire was put out before it could spread.

The man received burns to his right leg and was taken to hospital, but the incident could have ended much more seriously.

*March 10th is National No Smoking Day. See details of our campaign to prevent smoking-related fires by clicking here.