Kent's Chief Fire Officer has collected his CBE from the Princess Royal at Buckingham Palace.

Charlie Hendry was appointed as a Commander of the British Empire for services to local government in the New Year Honours List, and has just picked up the accolade in London.

The award recognises the work the 48-year-old has undertaken nationally advising on fire and rescue matters and for his service to Kent and Medway.

He said: "It’s obviously a tremendous honour and is also a recognition of the outstanding work of our fire and rescue service.”

Mr Hendry, from Doddington, near Sittingbourne, has had a long firefighting career. He joined London Fire Brigade as a firefighter in 1983 where he spent 17 years and attended incidents including the fatal train crash at Wembley in 1984 as well as leading London-wide planning for the Millennium celebrations.

In October 1999 he also commanded fire and rescue operations at the Paddington Rail Disaster.

The following year he joined KFRS as Deputy Chief Fire Officer, spending six years in the post before being promoted to Chief Fire Officer, where he organised the response to 2007’s Folkestone earthquake, among other large incidents.

Last year Mr Hendry was appointed president of the Chief Fire Officers’ Association (CFOA), where he has been on secondment since June.

As well as the CBE he also holds the Queen’s Fire Service Medal and the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal.