A MOTHER was lucky to be alive yesterday after a fire started as she slept.

Mother-of-two Karen Stanley had taken her children to school and, on returning home, smoked a cigarette, before going back to bed to catch up on her sleep.

The cigarette started a fire in the rubbish bin in the kitchen of her home at Belvedere Road, Middlesbrough.

Mrs Stanley was woken by a neighbour and scrambled out of a bedroom window.

Firefighters, who gave her oxygen, were able to limit damage to the kitchen.