Sexist dinosaurs make fire service no place for women, says ex-firefighter

A former firefighter forced out of her dream job by sexist bullying warned yesterday the Scots emergency service is blighted by misogynistic “dinosaurs”.

Lynn Bell, once named one of the country’s best trainees, spoke out as a damning report into London Fire Brigade branded it “institutionally misogynist and racist” after 2,000 staff members revealed a series of alarming incidents.

The report warned other fire services around the UK would share an unacceptable working culture and Bell agreed, saying the service in Scotland had an outdated, macho culture and said she would not encourage women to join. She dropped her bullying and discrimination case against Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) three years ago after settling out of court.

Yesterday, Bell, 45, said: “Someone sent me a link to the London report and I was not all surprised by it. There are so many dinosaurs in the fire service. Women should avoid the fire service as a career. Anyone with any enthusiasm has it bled out of them.”

The London review detailed a catalogue of abuse, sexism and racism at London Fire Brigade including women firefighters being sexually harassed and assaulted, including one who received video calls from a man exposing himself, while men were seen “huddled around a screen watching porn” at some fire stations.

Bell said her fellow firefighters in Cumbernauld would share pornographic pictures and target her for being a woman. She said: “They would share porn pictures on WhatsApp. They would come in and show photos of lassies that had texted them pictures and stuff like that.

“It is just a male-dominated place. There are some women in the fire service now who will say they never had any troubles.

“I think if you are a feminine female, a girly girl, you get it worse. I was once laughed at for taking out my purse. It wasn’t a major thing but it shows you the kind of attitudes the men have.

“At the time, my husband was a policeman. He had loads of female pals and I have got female pals that are cops, too, and they could not believe the stories I was coming back with.

“They had never experienced anything like that ever. I was one of only two females in north Lanarkshire in that whole area.

“When you walked into the station, everyone stops and stares at you.

“It can be quite intimidating but you just need to get on with it. At first, I felt quite accepted but then I felt that people didn’t have my back.”

Bell – Strathclyde Fire Service’s Trainee of the Year in 2011 – went on to become a crew manager at Cumbernauld fire station in Lanarkshire.

© Chris Austin

She said senior officers failed to protect her when she complained of being bullied due to her gender. She pursued a complaint about a colleague’s allegedly intimidatory behaviour, telling senior management she was repeatedly the target of aggressive behaviour by the officer.

On one occasion, he is said to have thrown a plate of chicken at a colleague who he claimed had not cooked it properly. He also reportedly would begin punching lockers if his colleagues snored during night shifts.

The complaint claimed Bell requested the officer be moved so they no longer worked together but the service refused. Her complaint lodged at a tribunal, said: “I have never wanted to raise this formally, but I now cannot get away from what feels like his hatred for me.

“I have gone to another watch and feel I have been more than accommodating to this situation. I am worried it is escalating and will end in an act of violence.

“Within the last 12 months, [he] constantly undermines me, acts aggressively, ignores me and has me on constant edge.

“I feel he has waged a war on the fact that I have started a charity, and he continually states I have special treatment.

“His behaviour is constant and fixated. I feel threatened and intimidated, even when I have moved watch, he spreads stories about me and I feel is trying to ruin my reputation and career.

“I am worried for my safety and that of my family.”

Bell, who launched her own charity that works with vulnerable adults and children, left her crew manager job in 2018. She said her experiences undermined her mental health. She said: “This one man in particular seemed to take a particular dislike to me. When we had down time, the guys would go and watch football or a movie or whatever.

“I would get out my laptop and do some work for my charity. This one guy would say ‘you are in work, you should not be doing that’.

“It went from there. I knew he didn’t like me and over the years he got worse. He started to target me.

“He went to punch me one night. Your locker would be at the back of your head and he grabbed the locker and rattled it.

“He was an absolute horror. He came in one night and kicked the door open, swearing. It was unbearable and when I complained about it, I was ‘one of those women’.

“In the end, it came down to how the fire service failed to deal with it. I know of other female firefighters who have had similar issues.”

© PA

The review of the London Fire Brigade said problems were widespread across the fire service.

In one incident, a black firefighter had a noose put by his locker while a female received video of a colleague exposing himself.

The independent review was established by the London Fire Commissioner after a trainee firefighter took his own life in August 2020.

The review recommends firefighters now wear body-worn video for home visits. The behaviour of some brigade staff left a trail of psychological harm, the report said.

Author Nazir Afzal, a former chief crown prosecutor for north-west England, said racism, misogyny and bullying was far more widespread and that he had found “dangerous levels of ingrained prejudice against women”, while colleagues from minority backgrounds were “frequently the target of racist abuse”.

London Fire Commissioner Andy Roe said the review would prompt root and branch reform: “We are going to take a zero-tolerance approach to bullying and harassment and discrimination.

“What that means, if we think about the immediate steps, is that I expect to dismiss people as a result of this report.”

Colin Brown FBU Executive committee member for Scotland, said: “This report is very disturbing. There is no place for discrimination, racism or misogyny in the fire service.

“The FBU Scotland will be raising this report with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to ensure that all forms of prejudice is driven out of the Scottish fire service..”

Interim chief officer of the SFRS Ross Haggart said: “While we cannot discuss individual cases, it is important to note that we have undertaken significant work over recent years to promote equality across the service.

“This includes establishing a series of employee networks and a women’s experience liaison forum as well as developing a comprehensive mental health and wellbeing strategy.

“However, we do recognise there is more that can be done to ensure we are an inclusive employer which reflects the diversity of the communities we serve.”