Knightsbridge fire crew in West End as dispute continues

Published: 1 October, 2010
by DAN CARRIER

FIRE crews from Knightsbridge had to battle their way through West End traffic on Monday afternoon to fight a serious blaze in Great Portland Street – due to the dispute over changes to shift patterns between the London Fire Brigade and the Fire Brigades Union.

Since Friday, fire crews have said they will only do the work they are required to do under the terms of their contracts – withdrawing from voluntary work, refusing to cover for senior officers, and banning overtime. 

They say they have been forced into such action after being told they will be sacked unless they agree to new rotas. 

The London Fire Brigade say the changes in shifts will mean a ­better service – but the FBU dispute this, saying it will leave less cover at night when statistically fires are much worse. 

Now crews say management are putting lives at risk by failing to listen to their concerns, while bosses insist they have spent five years trying to negotiate changes and also claim that they have enough cover across London to negate any impact industrial action may have.

Monday’s blaze, which started in a flat in Weymouth Street, took four engines with 20 fire­fighters more than an hour to bring under control. A third of the two-floor property was severely dam­aged and two people had to be rescued. 

Crews were called from Paddington, Soho, Clerkenwell and Knightsbridge – while the Euston station is closer.

One firefighter who is based at Euston said: “Because of the dispute, we didn’t have the cover we needed at Euston to go out and tackle this blaze. This shows how important it is for the Fire Brigade to withdraw their threats of mass sackings and sit down and find a resolution to this.”

FBU steward Ben Sprung, based at Kentish Town, said: “The incident on Monday shows that it is vital to get fire crews to fires as quickly as possible. Fire doubles in size every four minutes and we need to be there to protect lives and property as soon as we can.”

His views were backed by FBU general secretary Matt Wrack. He said: “Firefighters hate taking industrial action, and what we want to do is negotiate, not strike. 

“We understand that the London Fire Brigade wants to change the shift patterns our members work, and we are willing to continue the negotiations over shift patterns in good faith. 

“We would be also willing to lift all industrial action as soon as they withdraw the sacking notices.”