Fire brigades called to deal with weight issues – 2,700 times

Fire brigades have been called to more than 2,700 incidents over the past five years to assist severely obese people, figures show.

The emergencies included residents who became stuck in the bath and overweight people who were too large to travel for medical treatment.

South Wales Fire and Rescue responded to the highest number of calls, attending 189 such incidents between 2007/2008 and 2011/2012, according to a Freedom of Information request submitted by BBC Radio 5 Live.