A 48-year-old has been hospitalised after setting himself on fire outside a Jobcentre in Birmingham on Friday.
The man supposedly tied himself to the building's railings and, after complaining about not receiving a payment, set fire to his legs.
According to the Birmingham Mail, police were able to get to the man and put out the flames, leaving him with burns to his legs.
One eyewitness told the local paper the the man came to the building with petrol and "made threats", causing the building to be evacuated.
The building has now been closed for the day, with staff dismissed and claimants told they will receive their payments without attending appointments.
While it has not been verified exactly what prompted the man to set himself alight, one eyewitness claimed it was to do with his benefit claim.
“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," the anonymous eyewitness told the Birmingham Mail.
“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.”