Days when chief fire officer drove a Marina van

I WAS interested to read your article (Yorkshire Post, April 23) about the anger over the £400,000 bill for luxury cars for South Yorkshire fire chiefs which has since prompted a U-turn.

Back in 1986 when I first started working for myself, I needed a cheap van for my fledgling business. Answering an advertisement in the Yorkshire Evening Post, I bought a four-year-old, one owner Morris Marina van. Its previous owner and user I was told, and documents confirmed, was Humberside’s chief fire officer.

What has changed so much with firefighting in the last 25 years, that the fire chief now needs a luxury car, instead of a practical utility van?

Could it be that the chief fire officer no longer attends at incidents? Since the invention of the oven chip, it’s difficult enough to find a fireman who has actually attended a genuine fire, so what are the chances of finding a fire chief who has?

The general public are fast losing faith with many of the public services they once used to look up to and respect. Recent high profile cases where firemen have stood by and watched people drown because of the stupidity and zeal with which fire chiefs have interpreted health and safety rules have done nothing to improve their image. I read recently in this newspaper that public money is to be spent on supplying two South Yorkshire firemen with high-powered motorcycles to educate motorcyclists how to ride.

As a member of the public who also happens to ride a motorcycle, I would regard a member of the fire service as the very last person from whom I would seek advice about anything.