End of opt out which could have threatened fire cover in the north might be dropped - Thurso

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Thu 7th May 2009

Talks in Brussels on ending Britain's opt out from the European Working Time Directive have collapsed this week and are not due to start again until after the European Parliament election on the 4th of June. John Thurso MP who, with his Highland colleagues, has strongly campaigned to protect the opt out feels that this is the end of the proposal and that it will quietly be abandoned.

The attempt to end the opt out could have affected firemen in the north, as the majority of them are volunteers with other jobs. Limiting the working hours of volunteers (to 48 hours) without attracting large numbers of new ones could have had serious consequences for fire cover.

"This is good news and is what the British Government was trying to achieve, and what I and many colleagues were lobbying for. We have achieved the objective we set when we launched our campaign a few months ago."

"I am pleased with the outcome and feel the ruling was an unnecessary threat to public safety. My information is that it will not come back but if it does then I hope those behind it will think more carefully about it than they did before."