A 35-stone man was left lying in an ambulance for five hours after hospital staff said he was too heavy.

The man, from Horsham, had been rushed to hospital with suspected shoulder and rib fractures after a fall.

But when the ambulance arrived, the crew was told the hospital could not treat him.

The ambulance waited outside for more than two hours while the hospital decided what to do with him.

Eventually, he was taken to Horsham Hospital where he waited a further two hours.

The man's weight and the nature of his injuries meant he had to be carried out of the ambulance on a reinforced sheet by ten people.

Once admitted to hospital, he is believed to have slept on a mattress on the floor of a ward.

Jamie Cooke, Unison trade union representative at Horsham, said: "This was obviously a delicate situation because of the man's weight.

"But the weight of somebody should not be an issue when it comes to being cared for in hospital.

"It was an indignity for him to be left in the ambulance for so long."

A spokeswoman for Sussex Ambulance Service NHS Trust said it had processes for dealing with bariatric patients, or people more than 25 stones.

She said: "We cannot discuss this specific incident other than to say there was a wait involved."

Redhill's East Surrey Hospital, which allegedly refused the man, is run by Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust.

Trust deputy chief executive Matthew Kershaw said: "We are looking into the details of this case and will work closely with our local healthcare and other partners to establish exactly what happened."