World affairs

A jobcentre in Birmingham was the site of a shocking scene earlier this week when an unnamed 48-year-old set himself on fire.

The unemployed man reportedly had a disagreement over benefit payments and then shackled himself out a Jobcentre Plus before dousing himself in flammable liquid.

Thankfully police arrived on the scene, evacuated the jobcentre and brought the man to hospital, where he had suffered burns to his legs.

"The guy came into the jobcentre with petrol and made threats, so they evacuated the whole building. I think it was something to do with a payment he had not received," an unnamed witness told the Birmingham Mail of Thursday's incident.

"He tied himself to the railings and tore open the bottom of his trousers. You could smell the fumes from the liquid he used, but the police arrived by the time he had set himself alight and they managed to put him out quite quickly.

"He would have to have been very desperate to have done something like that. It's shocking that somebody could have been driven to those depths."

A spokesman for the PCS union, which represents staff at the jobcentre, said of the incident: "While we still don't know the full circumstances, it's tragic and very sad that anyone could be driven to such a desperate act."