A man's life was saved by a smoke alarm after fire broke out in his flat early today.

The 38-year-old man had fallen asleep while smoking a cigarette in the lounge of his second-floor flat in Oxford Road, Littlemore, at 2.45am.

The cigarette fell on to the floor and set light to a child's plastic toy telephone.

The man, who was alone in the property, was woken by a smoke detector and managed to put out the fire. A neighbour alerted the emergency services.