Firefighters take to the picket line (From Penarth Times)

Firefighters take to the picket line

PENARTH firefighters took to the picket line against this week as the local fire brigade refuse to be pushed in to a pay settlement.

At the station the mood is not one of optimism as government makes it clear it will not budge.

Firefighter Jeff Leach said: "Tony Blair and his government have not been giving out accurate information to the public.

We already work with part-time firefighters.

But if the station is manned 24-hours a day the staff have to be full time.

This is because the response time would be more if employees had to be called in."

In the event of a major accident or fire there is an agreement called Gold Command Incident which means fire-fighters will not continue the strike.

The strike ends on Saturday, at 9am.