A MOTHER-OF-TWO has been arrested on suspicion of child neglect after leaving a pan smoking on the hob as her two young children slept upstairs.

The 25-year-old woman was arrested at at her home in Calvert Road, Great Lever, at about 1.30am this morning.

It is understood that a pan of boiling spaghetti was left on an exposed flame before starting to smoke.

Smoke began to fill the house, including in bedrooms upstairs, where the small children were sleeping.

Both children were taken to the Royal Bolton Hospital "as a precaution".

Police and firefighters from Bolton Central fire station were called to the incident.

A fire service spokesman said: “This could have been a very serious incident but, in the end, there was only really some smoke damage to the property.

“Thankfully spaghetti doesn’t burn like other foods. If something else had been left unattended, the consequences could have been much worse.”

A police spokesman said enquiries were ongoing.

Nobody suffered any serious injuries.