Britain's obesity problem has hit a new low after it was revealed that super-sized mortuary slabs are being designed to carry obese corpses weighing up to 50st in a Gloucestershire morgue.

The new wider slabs are part of a £4.6m coroner’s court development in Gloucester, which also includes larger fridges and trolleys designed to hold an obese corpse between 35st and 50st.

"The dimensions have got bigger because people are getting bigger and we’ve had to think about that. In New York, one man who died was 62st," says Scott Riddell from the medical centre.

For several years the Gloucestershire morgue was unable to accommodate obese corpses and was forced to send them to nearby Shire Hall or the Four Seasons conference centre in Cheltenham.

"The problem that we had is that people are getting bigger than they used to be and we didn't have facilities for larger bodies," says Conservative Councillor Will Windsor-Clive from Gloucestershire County Council.

"We have gone to the highest specifications with our centre. Some of our fridges have much larger dimensions. They are deeper in the fridge so your obese person can be put in there without it being a problem. There is also plenty of room for other fridges.

"The undertaken can put them in on one side and they can be taken out easily on the other for the post mortem. It is a state of the art facility and one of the most modern in Britain. It is a morbid thing to open but it is very much needed," added Windor-Clive.

In the UK, 25% of Brits have an obese BMI, making British women the most overweight in Europe.

This isn't the first time something has been super-sized to accommodate larger, obese people. Last year it was revealed that retail chain Simply Be were widening their changing rooms facilities to make room for their larger customers.