Firefighters have issued a reminder of their cooking safety advice following a fire at a restaurant with dwellings above on London Road in Kingston.

Part of the ground floor and first floor roof were damaged by the fire. Damage was also caused to the external ducting from the first to the third floor. There were no reports of any injuries.

The fire is believed to have been accidental and was caused by unattended cooking. 

A London Fire Brigade spokesperson said: "Cooking should never be left unattended on the hob or grill - if you have to leave the kitchen, turn off the heat.

"Cooking with hot oil can be really dangerous and the risk increases when you start frying food more than once. All it can take is for you to become distracted for a few seconds and your cooking oil can quickly go up in flames.

"Never fill a pan more than one third full of fat or oil and make sure food is dry before putting it in hot oil – oil and water are a dangerous mix.

"If the oil starts to smoke, it's too hot so turn off the heat and leave it to cool. We also advise using an electronic deep fat fryer if possible – they have automatic temperature controls and are much safer. 

"It's also really important to keep the hob, cooker hood and extractor fan clean too – built up fat and grease can ignite and cause a fire."

Control Officers took the first of 20 calls at 4.55pm and mobilised four fire engines and around 25 firefighters from Surbiton, Kingston, Twickenham and Sutton fire stations to the scene. The fire was extinguished by 5.54pm.