Fire brigade forced to pull gay recruitment ad

London fire brigade has been forced to scrap recruitment adverts in the gay media after they were criticised as "tasteless".

The advert, which also appeared in the national press, used the headline: "Fancy pulling an older woman?" In small print underneath, it continued: "Out of a car, from a burning building or just out of danger?"

But brigade chiefs were forced to pull the advert when a complaint was received from the Networking Women in the Fire Service organisation.

Barbara Riddell, the brigade's director of resources, said in an email to colleagues that the advert was "designed to be "attention grabbing" but "crosses the line between being provocative and being tasteless".

Mick Shaw, London spokesman for the Fire Brigades Union, said it had also lodged a complaint.