Fire crews have announced a 48-hour walkout next Thursday as crunch talks between the county council and Fire Brigades Union (FBU) bosses broke down yet again this week.

The FBU said the county's fire chiefs had failed to make any acceptable' compromises, so crews in Borehamwood and Radlett will join colleagues across Hertfordshire on strike from next Thursday, June 15, at 6pm until Saturday at 6pm.

The union says it is 'sticking by its guns' and will not back down until a serious offer is made to withdraw cost-cutting measures approved to the fire service, including the closure of Radlett Fire Station.

County Councillor David Lloyd, who is responsible for the fire service, said: "I'm absolutely astounded that the union intends to hold a longer strike action, putting more people at risk even though they've not responded to the ideas that have been put on the table.

"The county council has gone a long way to try to find an agreement with the union. They've dismissed all of our proposals and not come up with anything viable themselves."

"The FBU have just come up with a wish list of ideas which will cost council taxpayers considerably more.

"It's easy to make unreasonable demands when you don't have responsibility for running the service. I am urging the union to give up the hard-line militancy and really commit to resolving this dispute."

This week, the county council took away Radlett's fire engine from its Watling Street base for the third time in a month.

Peter Cargill, a Radlett firefighter and FBU representative, said: "It's an absolute disgrace. We're not striking until next week, but they've decided to leave Radlett's residents without a fire engine for seven days.

"It's petty, it's childish and it's unnecessary.

"They came back to us with nothing and we're not prepared to lose frontline jobs or appliances. It's as simple as that."