South Yorkshire firefighters call off strike at last minute

The 11th hour move by the fire Brigades Union came after the county's fire authority agreed to refer a long-running dispute over shift changes to national arbitration.

All other industrial action has also been temporarily suspended, the FBU said.

The union's regional secretary Ian Murray said: "The fire authority accepted our proposals to involve the national employers and union representatives.

"Shift changes and related issues will be referred to national arbitration and the strike action scheduled to start tomorrow will not now go ahead."

He added: "It is important this process is followed with a commitment by both sides to seek resolution. This is a real opportunity for us to reach an agreement to end this long running dispute and in doing so avoid the need to continue with the industrial action."