UNION officials say there is talk of industrial action at Greenock Fire Station over service chiefs’ ‘safety risk’ proposals to cut staffing numbers.  

Colin Brown, executive council at the Fire Brigades Union, told the Telegraph that staff were outraged about plans to reduce the number of whole time crewed appliances at the local station.  

READ MORE: Football tournament held in Greenock to mark refugee week

Speaking at a demonstration outside Greenock’s Municipal Buildings, the senior union representative said: “We have fire fighters now talking about industrial action over this.

“That is the strength of feeling and the level of anger across many of the branches impacted by these cuts and certainly in the Greenock station there is talk of balloting for industrial action.

“That is a process that has to take a bit of time, but I think that’s a marker for the level of anger.”

FBU West Area Region chairman and local firefighter Colin Edgely said: “Our service has been cut to bits and there’s further cuts to come.

“But enough is enough, these cuts are going to start to affect public safety in this area and it’s not on.

“It’s really important when we go to incidents that we have appliances readily available.

“Removing a whole-time appliance from the area is only going to cause further delay in fire fighters attending incidents which is going to be a safety risk for people.”