Police officers are being hailed as heroes after stopping a man who had doused himself in petrol from setting himself alight.

Sussex Police Constable Jim Smith and colleagues were able to restrain a 24-year-old man who had doused himself in petrol and attempted to set himself alight even as the officers grappled with him.

The officers were called to Selby Road in Uckfield at 1.15pm yesterday to calls of a man threatening to harm himself.

When officers arrived, the 24-year-old man had moved to the playing fields by Harlands Primary School.

They bravely intervened and were able to restrain the man and take him to hospital to be assessed under a section 136 order.

PC Smith yesterday tweeted: “I read a tweet from @policecommander earlier, an hour later my colleague and I are in A+E having successfully saved a young mans life.”