Complaints about firefighters' driving increase
Complaints about firefighters’ driving have increased compared to previous years, and a chief brigade officer says quieter roads during the coronavirus outbreak may explain the rise.
Throughout 2019-20, Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service received six complaints in the category, with four ruled to be “substantiated” after investigation. This compares to just two substantiated and seven partially substantiated between April 2016 and March 2019.
Deputy Chief Fire Officer Dave Myers suggested to fire authority members that “there has been an increased awareness of the public around behaviours of service staff, possibly because the roads are quieter and we are still going about our business as usual.
A report, co-authored by him and CFO Rod Hammerton, said overall complaint numbers had remained roughly stable since 2016 while the county brigade had registered 43 formal complements from members of the public, more than in any of the preceding three years.
Presenting the document to the Shropshire and Wrekin Fire and Rescue Authority Standards, Audit and Performance Committee, Officer Myers said: “What we see from the comparison of our complaints, in terms of the categories, is that there has been an increase particularly in one specific area: ‘poor driving behaviour’.
“This is something that we’re addressing across the service through additional training, awareness sessions and making staff more vigilant around the issues around driving.
“I would suggest that, in the Covid period, there has been an increased awareness of the public around behaviours of fire service staff, possibly because the roads are quieter and we are still going about our business as usual.
“So that’s something we’re conscious of and working hard to address.”
The officers’ report explained that “poor driving behaviour” is one of six categories under which an incoming complaint can be filed. The others are “conduct prejudicial to the reputation of the service”, “failure to deal correctly with an incident, inspection or procedure”, “damage to property”, “environmental” and “other”.
