The number of obese people being rescued by the fire service so they can be treated for their weight has topped1,000 for the first time, equivalent to three rescues a day, figures reveal.

Fire crews attended 1,026 “bariatric” assists in 2017/18 to take obese people for the surgery, up from 853 the year before, according to Home Office figures compiled and analysed by the Reach data unit.

It is more than double the 430 rescues in 2012/13 when statistics began to be collected and reflects rising obesity where people are so overweight that they cannot leave their homes for hospital treatment and need fire service help.

In one incident last year, revealed in the statistics, Devon and Somerset firefighters had to spend nearly four hours rescuing one obese person. It attended 46 “bariatric assists” in 2017/18, up from 33 in the previous year and four in 2012/13.

Tam Fry, from the National Obesity Forum, said "The real problem is that people are getting so fat that they physically can't get out of the house or bed and therefore have to be rescued.