October 18, 2013 3.23 pm This story is over 124 months old

Firefighters’ strike over pensions called off

Cancelled: A planned strike by Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue over retirement will no longer take place.

Plans for Lincolnshire firefighters to strike over pensions has been called off by the Fire Brigades Union (FBU).

As previously reported, the planned strike was over keeping firefighters in work until they are 60 years old, instead of 55.

The FBU feared this would be putting people’s safety at risk.

However, all parties involved have managed to come to an agreement, similar to age of retirement in Scotland.

Now, firefighters can retire on a full pension between 55 and 60 if they are deemed not fit enough anymore and another role cannot be found for them.

If a firefighter chooses to retire early due to fitness levels though, they will not receive the full pension.

This means the five-hour strike on Saturday, October 19 will no longer go ahead, although plans are still yet to be finalised.

The strike would have been the second part of action taken last month, where around 150 county firefighters took part in a four hour strike.

In last month’s four-hour strike, Lincolnshire firefighters responded to six incidents, including one traffic accident and two building fires caused by chip pans.