A LEGAL challenge is planned which could halt proposals to halve the number of firefighters based at a Barnsley station.
South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service has announced it will introduce a new system at the Tankersley station which would end the formal night shift and see firefighters effectively living on the station for up to four days at a time.
The service is expecting to save £400,000 a year by introducing the system at Tankersley, stating the system has worked well at two stations elsewhere in South Yorkshire.
But the Fire Brigades Union is concerned about the system, called 'close proximity working', and is now taking the service to an employment tribunal as a result.
** The full story appears in the Barnsley Chronicle, dated September 4.**
