Firefighters have praised the quick action of neighbours for rescuing a couple who had fallen asleep while they cooked a roast dinner.

The pair began cooking at about midnight last night when they fell asleep in their flat in Tuscany Gardens, Northgate, Crawley.

Their smoke alarms went off and although they did not wake up their neighbours heard the noise, broke into the flat, woke them up and disconnected the cooker.

Sub Officer Ian Melville said: "Luckily they had a smoke alarm that was working and the neighbours heard.

"Left unattended it could have been an extremely serious incident. In this case the pan was burnt and there was a lot of smoke which had been vented when we got there but otherwise no major damage.

"The fire brigade would like to praise the quick actions of quick thinking neighbours."

About a dozen firefighters from Crawley attended the incident. No one was injured.