Firefighters were forced to leave their fire engine and run 100 metres to a house fire after an inconsiderate motorist blocked the road.

East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service firefighters warned that the bad parking caused a delay which, in difference circumstances, could have made the difference between life and death.

Firefighters said it was the second incident of its kind in the road in a matter of months.

They also warned about the dangers of residents trying to tackle fires themselves and not having smoke alarms after coming to the rescue of a resident without one.

Crews from Preston Circus Fire Station were called to Tavistock Down, in the Hollingdean area of Brighton, at just after 7.45pm on Friday.

As the firefighters arrived in the tight road, with cars parked along one side of the road, their route was blocked by another car poorly parked on the other side of the road.

The female owner of the vehicle did not initially respond to the sirens of the engine, so firefighters took the decision to leave the engine and run 100 metres to the home bringing the fire hose with them.

Once at the door of the first-floor flat, crews found a man, believed to be in his 50s, suffering from the effects of smoke inhalation.

The man had tried to fight the fire in the grill section of his oven by himself, but the fire had spread up the back wall of the kitchen and he was overcome by the smoke.

He was given oxygen treatment by paramedics outside the property while firefighters extinguished |the fire.

In total, fire crews were at the scene for almost two hours.

Crew manager Steve Deakin said: “The road is only wide enough for two cars and this lady had just abandoned her car in the middle of the road.

“It was just horrendous parking, I’ve never seen parking so bad that it blocks off the whole road.

“The problem was we had to pull the hose off and run that down.

“We had already got the fire team into the building before they moved the car.

“The quicker we can get into that property, the greater chance anyone still in the building has of surviving.”

Mr Deakin also warned against residents trying to tackle fires themselves.

He said: “A certain older generation try to put it out themselves, which results in them breathing in smoke.

“If people do have a fire, they should close all the doors on their way out and just call the fire service to tackle the fire.”