A HYDRAULIC lifting platform had to be brought in and a window removed so firefighters could rescue a 30 stone woman from her house.

Paramedics were called to the home in Rochdale Road, Abbey Wood, at around 9.30pm last night (August 15) because the woman, named locally as Yvonne Griffiths, was having breathing difficulties.

But when they arrived they found they could not get her out on their own so called London Fire Brigade.

Firefighters were going to cut the banister out inside her home and get her out on a board but it was thought to be too dangerous to have her lying down for a long period of time.

Instead they took out the bedroom window out and called for an aerial lifting platform to come from Greenwich fire station.

The woman was said to have been strapped to a board for a maximum of five minutes while she was brought down and put into an ambulance.

She was then taken to a south London hospital.

During the rescue she was constantly on oxygen to assist her breathing.

A London Fire Brigade spokesman says it is possible she had been lying on her back in her bedroom for around 24 hours before the rescue took place.

It is not known why the woman, who is believed to be in her 60s, is overweight.

The rescue involved firefighters from Plumstead and Greenwich and two ambulance crews.

They were there until around 11pm yesterday.