The newspaper reported on its microblog that the fire spread rapidly, with industrial boilers exploding, and only a sidedoor to the building was open with the rest of the exits locked.
At the Mercedes, the back door on the far side swung open and a frail woman dressed in an ankle-length cloth coat and peasant galoshes stumbled from the car.
"What we like about it is that if you can open your door, you can load or unload your wheelchair because it takes up no more width at the side of the vehicle than that, " said Neale Boulton of Steering Developments.