London female firefighters to support Sian Griffiths

Female firefighters are to lobby the London Fire Authority in support of a colleague who was suspended last week.

The authority took action against Sian Griffiths last week for alleged bullying and harassment during the recent strikes over new contracts.

Two days earlier she collected the Queen's Fire Service Medal for "distinguished service".

Her colleagues are due at the authority in Southwark, south London, to call for her to be reinstated.

Members of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) have staged a series of strikes in London in recent weeks in a dispute over shift patterns.

The union said Ms Griffiths was escorted off the premises at the London Fire Brigade's Southwark Training Centre on Armistice Day.

It added she had since received hundreds of messages of support.

The London Fire Brigade said a number of staff had been suspended from duty following evidence of potential acts of gross misconduct and investigations were ongoing.

Ms Griffiths, who chairs the FBU's Women's Action Committee in London, was one of the first female firefighters recruited in the capital.