A SINGLE mum and her toddler daughter have thanked a have-a-go hero for saving their lives.

Laura Venn and three-year-old Ellie-May were trapped as fire ripped through their first-floor flat in Corporation Street.

But by the time Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service had arrived builder Scott Woodward had rescued them both.

As smoke started to fill her bedroom, Laura 22, began to panic.

She grabbed Ellie-May, and ran to her front door only to find it locked.

Trapped in the flat, there was nothing she could do except scream and hope someone would hear her.

She said: "I was absolutely screaming. I was just terrified and I didn't know what to do.

"When no-one came when I was screaming I just thought, oh my god, I'm not going to be able to get her down by myself."

Luckily help was close at hand as 24-year-old neighbour and friend Scott put his own life on the line to rescue them.

When he realised what was going on he managed to climb in through a window.

"It was my day off and I had overslept," said Scott. "I heard my neighbour screaming so I looked out the window."

"I climbed in to try to get them out, but the handle of the front door had come off - it opened inwards, so I had to lift them out of the window.

"It was pretty warm in there."

With the help of another local builder who had managed to bring a ladder, Mr Woodward was able to hand Ellie-May out to him.

Although both Ellie-May and Laura were unharmed, Scott picked up a bad chest infection.

But he has no regrets about rushing in to help.

He said: "I'd do it again - you don't even think about it do you?

"You just do it. I just did what anyone else would do."

The fire began on Monday afternoon after Ellie-May got hold of some matches and started a fire in the bedroom.

Laura says the first she knew of the fire was when the smoke alarm went off.

"It was a blaze before I'd realised what was happening," she said.

"I'd locked the front door the night before, but as I tried to turn the handle it came off in my hand. I would never normally lock it, but I did that night but I will never be locking it again.

"I would never have been able to get my daughter out of the window at all."

Laura is now staying with her mother in Walcot, as the flat is so badly damaged it is not fit to live in until at least next week.