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A fire brigade manager has been arrested after a car ploughed into a picketing firefighter outside Croydon fire station.
Stunned firefighters rushed to help Red Watch colleague Tamer Ozdemir, who screamed out in pain after being struck by the car.
Station manager Chris Young who is believed to have been in the car at the time was arrested by police.
Mr Ozdemir, believed to be in his 40s, was taken by ambulance to St George's Hospital in Tooting as a priority suffering from a serious injury to his pelvis.
Enraged firefighters, who had been protesting since 10am against changes to shift patterns, began hurling abuse at strikebreakers leaving the scene, banging on the side of the fire engines shouting "scabs" and "traitors".
Mick Shaw, president of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) was with the protesters when the incident happened at about 3.20pm.
He said: "A fire engine returned from an incident and drove into the fire station, its crew refusing to wind down their windows and talk to the pickets.
"It was followed by a car driven by the officers, and as the pickets tried to talk to the driver of the car, it accelerated suddenly and one of the striking firefighters was thrown up and into the windscreen."
Police cordoned off Mitcham Road outside the fire station as the London Air Ambulance hovered overhead, blocking traffic along Old Town.
Firefighter Mick Andrews was one of the first to reach Mr Ozdemir, helping give him first aid before running to nearby strikebreakers to get a blanket for the casualty.
He said: "I've never seen anything like it.
"I asked for a blanket because someone had been run over and was completely blanked.
"I went around to the officer in charge of the appliance and asked him for a blanket and he told me to get it off another appliance."
The strike was called off after police arrested Mr Young, telling firefighters the station had become a crime scene.
Strikebreaking crews from private company Assetco had been responding to emergencies since crews began their picket at 10am, and were being supported by senior brigade staff driving cars.
A spokesman from the London Fire Brigade said: "During demonstrations at Croydon fire station one person believed to be demonstrating has been injured after being hit by a car.
"London Ambulance was called at 3.20pm and a man has been taken to hospital with pelvic injuries.
"Due to a large number of protestors at the station and that incident, we have suspended the use of that station."
A spokeswoman for London Ambulance Service said: "We were called at 3.18pm to reports of a road traffic collision involving a car and a pedestrian.
"We sent an ambulance crew, a single responder and the air ambulance.
"Our staff treated on patient, a man reported to be in his 40s, for pelvic injuries.
"He was taken as a priority to St George's Hospital in a ground ambulance.
"Another patient was treated at the scene for minor injuries but not taken to hospital."
Station manager Chris Young has been arrested by police.
[url= http://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/news/topstories/8488277.Fire_station_manager_arrested_after_car_ploughs_into_striking_firefighters/?ref=rss#commentsList ]http://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/news/topstories/8488277.Fire_station_manager_arrested_after_car_ploughs_into_striking_firefighters/?ref=rss#commentsList[/url]
Anyway I'm not sure how LFB copes with 20 calls in 8 hours, that's almost 1.5% of what LAS gets in the same period.
Drac, that would just be the ones that Asset co. are responding to, they are only going to respond to confirmed fires and road traffic collisions where persons are confirmed trapped, not the multitude of calls that we usually respond to. The LFB usually responds to over 3000 calls a day and any where up to twice that during for example periods of heavy rain when a lot of flood calls are made.
Oh and i'm reasonably sure the LAS has more ambulances than we have fire engines, and they are over stretched and could in all honestly do with more resources.
Ah thought it might be the case as 20 seemed a bit mad. Yeah sure LAS do and if anything like up here could do with a lot more. I wish them all good luck in their case but I seriously don't think it'll make much difference. Winning public support when you provide essential services is also extremely difficult.
for all those that are unaware of the real reason for the strike and think its just about money or trivial issues, heres a site that explains the real issues.
[url= http://www.firebrigadedispute.co.uk/ ]fire brigade dispute[/url]
It's all still a bit unclear to me, I agree the right-wing media is misrepresenting things but I still don't think it's a reason to strike. Even assuming the long-term goal is to close certain stations at night, it's not really up to fire-fighters whether it's workable or not, that's what management is there for (rightly or wrongly). Lets be honest, I bet most fire fighters are more worried that the closures would mean loss of jobs, yet that web-site just implies the downside would be more deaths/risk to the public so clearly trying to play the PR game as well (and muddying the issue in the process).
An independent , although admittedly left leaning, journalists observations. http://www.francisbeckett.co.uk/
HSE to investigate Asset Co
[url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-11690392 ]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-11690392[/url]
Letter sent to White Watch, obviously LFB have no intention of negotiating at the next meeting on Thursday
[url= http://staff.london-fire.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/White-watch-letter-03-Nov-2010.pdf ]
http://staff.london-fire.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/White-watch-letter-03-Nov-2010.pdf [/url]
Seems as if its off, the governmnet has given way and the firemen win.
Possibly not won yet, they've (LFB management) agreed that they will go with the union to arbitration and that will suspend the termination of contracts until after the scheduled authority meeting on the 26th January, so hopefully a negotiated settlement can be reached by then and there will be no more strikes, but, last time something like this happened the authority leader Brian Coleman decided he didn't like it and reversed the decision.
Reading news so may not be accurate looks like the FBU are swaying toward the new shift pattern. So plenty achieved there then.
aye, from what i understand theres certainly no 'winner' yet. union have called off the strikes as they think that london will be unsafe over bonfire night with a poorly trained assetco looking after them.
but the union certainly havent got what they want, which is the threat of the sack being lifted from them, and no station closures etc after the olympics.
this is just what i understand from news filtering down to the 'shires'
have we been told right bazz?
Sadexpunk - yes that is essentialy correct, i think the union were getting quite a few phone calls from fire fighters to put off this weekends strike, and i think the management were eager to have us on duty as well.
Drac - We (union members) have always been well aware that shift change was unfortunately inevitable, what we didn't want was for insincere negotiations followed by being sacked and having worse conditions imposed, if we wanted our jobs back, we want a negotiated settlement that pleases both sides and doesn't leave the public at long term risk. from cuts to the service.
Cheers Bazz that explains it better. I'm not a believer of strike action by essential services so pleased to here there was some sensible members asking for it to called off, even more so for Union to listen to it's members for once. I'm not a fan of unions at the minute but that's personal reasons.
Good luck hope the negotiations work out the best they possibly can for you.
"Bonfire Night 05 November 2010
The Brigade's 999 Control Centre took 527 x 999 calls in the period between 4pm-11pm.
On Bonfire Night firefighters expect to be called out to a number of small fires (rubbish fires, bonfires etc). This evening firefighters dealt with 89 small fires, with 27 of these believed to be bonfires that got out of control."
[url= http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/LastestIncidentsContainer_05nov22.asp ]http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/LastestIncidentsContainer_05nov22.asp[/url]
"A number of fire engines which were to be used to provide emergency cover in the capital during a threatened Bonfire Night strike are being withheld from service, it was learned.
The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) said it was a "disgrace" that the London Fire Brigade was not releasing the 27 fire engines, which were going to be used by staff at a private firm before the strike was called off.
FBU general secretary Matt Wrack said: "We were abused by Government ministers and the London Fire Brigade for proposing to strike on Bonfire Night.
"We cancelled the strike and now the fire brigade is withholding 27 fire engines from London's firefighters and the people of London. It is disgraceful and hypocritical."
A fire brigade spokesman said: "The 27 fire engines that were being used to provide a contingency level of fire service during strike periods will not be released until the industrial dispute is fully resolved.
"Many fire engines are used each and every day for training purposes while others are taken out of service to undergo maintenance. The capital still has the cover it needs to deal with emergencies."
The union has held two eight-hour strikes in a row over new contracts and were planning a two- day walkout before announcing it had agreed to attend a meeting of the Resolution Advisory Panel, an independently-chaired body that can make recommendations to resolve the dispute.
The panel will meet on November 16 and, if an agreement is reached, the brigade said the process of re-engaging firefighters on new terms and conditions would be withdrawn."
[url= http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5h2h0XsPjkCeyzJxEcy_YaEwAQWOA?docId=B38004881288974154A00 ]http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5h2h0XsPjkCeyzJxEcy_YaEwAQWOA?docId=B38004881288974154A00[/url]
Hmmm, typical spin, what they didn't say was how many fire stations were completely shut because the appliances had been taken away or there were not enough officers to ride in charge of them, half of LB Southwark's stations were shut as was Deptford.