Firefighters were called to a blaze at a Carshalton home this afternoon.

Three engines from Croydon and Wallington stations were sent to Pound Street at 1.41pm.

A two-storey house, understood to be unoccupied, was ablaze.

Mark Cocklin, who owns nearby antiques shop The Clock House, told the Sutton Guardian: “I was told by a road sweeper about the fire and we thought the woman who lived there was inside so we ran over.

“The road sweeper kicked the door in, but there was so much smoke that we could not get in. When the firefighters arrived they went in wearing the face masks and put the fire out.

“I’m fairly sure that the fire started by a neighbours fence and that it spread to the conservatory of the house itself."

London Fire Brigade had extinguished the flames by 2.18pm.

The previous occupant of the house, named locally as Pamela, is thought to have died about a month ago.