A woman was rescued by Fulham firefighters after being trapped at home for 20 hours following a collapse.

The firefighters went through a ground-floor shop before using a ladder to reach a first-floor window of the flat in Stevendale Road, Fulham

They broke a window to get in and found the woman slumped in her bedroom, unable to move. The rescuers reassured the pensioner and rehydrated her with tepid water while waiting for an ambulance to arrive on Wednesday morning.

White watch manager Aaron Tucker said: "She was lying across her bedroom door and had managed to pull a pillow off her bed. We gave her oxygen and talked to her to calm her down.

"As we were en route we had ordered an ambulance and it was there within three minutes. We let the ambulance crews in through the front door."

The pensioner, who is in her 60s, had managed to speak to her daughter on a mobile phone, who then alerted the fire brigade.

Mr Tucker said the hardest part of the rescue was fitting down the side of an extension behind the shop.

He added: "It was a bit of a squeeze to get through there and put the ladder up. There was no smoke alarm in the flat, so we fitted one while we were there."