A Black Country grandfather has told of the dramatic moment he risked his life to try and save a woman from a blaze in her flat.

Delivery driver John Cotton, aged 62, flagged down a van and grabbed the ladders from the back before climbing up to the first floor window above the Lifestyle Express supermarket in Tividale Road, Tipton.

He used a hammer to smash the glass, allowing the 27-year-old woman trapped inside to breathe until firefighters arrived.

Firefighters rescued her and said afterwards that if the window had not been smashed by Mr Cotton the woman could have died.

Grandfather-of-two Mr Cotton, of Hamilton Drive, Tividale, who has been a driver at for Universal Bolt Forgers, Dudley Road West for eight years, was driving past when he saw a crowd gathered outside the burning flat before spotting the woman at the window shortly after 7.20am on Tuesday.

He said that he did not really think about what he was doing and had never done anything like it before.

“All I did was flag down a van with ladders on and asked them to put them up,” he said.

“I went up with a hammer and smashed the window and coaxed her over to get some fresh air.

“If I had time to think about it I might not have gone up but somebody had to go up there.

“I don’t know what I said to her, I was shaking in my boots and I don’t know who was more scared, me or her.” West Midlands Ambulance attended the fire and the woman was treated for breathing in smoke.

Spokesman Chris Kowalik said: “Crews were told the neighbour had flagged down a passing van which was carrying a ladder.

“Despite such commendable efforts, she couldn’t be persuaded to leave and was rescued from the property by the fire service.”

Fire crews praised Mr Cotton’s bravery saying the woman was lucky to be alive.

Red watch commander Desmond Lloyd, from Oldbury Fire Station said: “This lady was a matter of moments from death, if the window had not been smashed then there is a chance she would not be alive now.”

The woman was treated for smoke inhalation at Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley and the fire was extinguished by crews from Oldbury and Tipton.

It is believed the blaze could have been started by an electrical fault.