THE region's firefighters have postponed their proposed strike.
Crew members were due to walk out between 6.30pm and 11.30pm on October 19 in an ongoing dispute over pensions.
Fire chiefs had warned that response times to emergency calls would have suffered, with just eight fire engines available to cover the county instead of the usual 27.
However, the Fire Brigades Union has chosen to postpone the strike, saying ‘progress’ had been made in talks with the government.
South Yorkshire FBU spokesman Graham Wilkinson said: "The reason the strike has been postponed is that the government have had discussions with the FBU this week and it looks like there could be some movement on one of the issues.
"It looks like there could now be protection for firefighters over 55 deemed unfit for firefighting.
"But this isn't concrete yet as all the fire authorities would have to agree first and there are other issues that need resolved too so this is a postponement of strike action rather than a cancellation."
