Meet the 40st mannequin being used to train paramedics and firefighters on how to deal with obese members of the public.

Filled with a core of stone and steel ball bearings, the dummy is weighted to feel like a real person who is unconscious, to make rescue conditions as realistic as possible.

The heaviest ‘bariatric’ model weighs in at just over 40st and costs £2,433, although emergency services buy at a discount.

This 40st mannequin is being used to train paramedics and firefighters on how to deal with obese members of the public

Filled with a core of stone and steel ball bearings, the dummy is weighted to feel like a real person who is unconscious

A quarter of British adults are now obese, meaning they have a Body Mass Index of 30 or more. For a 6ft man, that equates to a weight of about 16.5st.

Since 1993, the number of morbidly obese Britons – those who have a BMI of 40 or more – has skyrocketed from 350,000 to 1.5 million, according to a briefing paper published earlier this year by the House of Commons Library.

The company which sells the mannequins, Ruth Lee Ltd in North Wales, also produces two other bariatric mannequins – which weigh 14st and 28st – in addition to other lighter dummies.

Its customers include funeral parlours, cruise ships and airlines. Marketing manager Sarah Hampson said the full-weight models were essential so emergency services could train for situations where every minute is vital.

‘Events like Grenfell have highlighted the need to come up with a good evacuation plan,’ she said.

The heaviest ‘bariatric’ model weighs in at just over 40st and costs £2,433, although emergency services buy at a discount

‘There’s no point in having a plan if you’re not sure you can carry it out. For example, a hospital could have an operating theatre on the fifth floor.

'If there’s a fire, the lifts close and you’ve got somebody who’s morbidly obese, what do you do?’

The answer was to slide them down the stairs on a very heavy-duty plastic sheet, she added.