Fire crews work to rule

Forty fire engines could be left idle for hours a day when firefighters begin work-to-rule industrial action this week.

Unions are protesting at plans to prevent workers with poor sickness records applying for overtime.

But London's fire chief has warned this will take more than one in seven emergency tenders off the road and put lives at risk.

Commissioner Ken Knight said: "We could find ourselves, without scaremongering, with up to 40 fire engines out of 270 across London not available because of this industrial action."

The dispute comes as the fire authority prepares to ratify tomorrow Mr Knight's plans to close one fire station and redeploy 10 engines from central London to the suburbs. "The 10 fire stations where we are moving fire engines from have half as many fire deaths as the 10 stations we are moving them to," he said.

The FBU has instructed its members to stop "hanging on" after shifts to cover for sick colleagues or those attending incidents. From 6pm on Friday, dozens of London's 112 stations are likely to have too few staff to take out a fire engine. Firefighters will remain on duty while attending emergency calls that continue beyond their shifts.

The FBU is unhappy with the brigade's decision to prevent firefighters who have been absent for 21 days in the previous three years from applying for pre-arranged overtime. It also wants an increase in the overtime rate at weekends.