FIREFIGHTERS in Kent are considering taking renewed industrial action after accusing council bosses of failing to keep their word over the pay deal agreed in June.

Members of the south-east region of the Fire Brigades' Union met twice this week to discuss whether they should reject the 16 per cent wage increase that ended their long-running dispute.

Other brigades elsewhere in the UK have already decided to work to rule over the row, with crews in Wiltshire, the Midlands and parts of Scotland only answering 999 calls.

Fire Brigade Union co-ordinator for the south-east, Sub Officer Alan Stark, said his members had backed calls for a national recall conference next month.

He said: "We are at the moment a long way off from industrial action but there is a lot of anger out there. A lot of the membership feel they have been let down after agreeing to return to work in June.

"We have kept our side of the bargain but many of our members feel that the other side have failed to keep theirs."

It was reported when the pay deal was struck in June that firefighters would get four per cent immediately, followed by seven per cent in November. The remaining increase next summer would then take the average salary of a firefighter to £25,000.

The union understood this month's share would be paid at once, while employers now plan to pay half the seven per cent this month and the rest in the New Year.

However, firefighters employers claim it was always known that the pay rise had to be approved by the Audit Commission before it could be fully applied.

Mr Stark, who is based at Maidstone fire station, said he hoped discussions could resolve the dispute without the need for the kind of direct action being followed elsewhere in the UK.