Firefighter honoured by Queen 'bullied' female strike-breaker on Facebook

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Sian Griffiths was escorted away from London Fire Brigade's Southwark training centre yesterday after being accused of the "bullying and harassment" of another firefighter.

Ms Griffiths, 50, a former station manager at Shadwell, is one of 12 firefighters understood to have been suspended for alleged actions during the ongoing dispute in the capital over shift patterns, which has seen two strikes and angry confrontations on picket lines.

Her suspension came only two days after the Queen personally awarded her the Queen's Fire Service Medal for distinguished service.

A number of the suspensions are believed to follow "abusive" Facebook postings, though Ms Griffiths, a firefighter for 26 years and a prominent union activist, has not been told of the precise allegations against her, or who has made the complaint.

She could not comment, under the terms of her suspension. Paul Embery, spokesman for the London Fire Brigades Union, said: "We are very disturbed to learn of Sian Griffiths's suspension. She has been a vocal critic of the brigade during the dispute."

The medal is awarded to firefighters "who have exhibited exceptional contribution and devotion to duty or acts of gallantry".

Mother-of-two Ms Griffiths, who is married to another firefighter and lives in Willesden, was one of Britain's first women firefighters and attended the King's Cross station fire in 1987, in which 31 people died.

She said in a previous interview: "I've been to colleagues' funerals and I have pulled dead people out of buildings." On her nomination for the medal, she spoke of her "passion" for equality in the workplace. She has had 300 messages of support since news broke of her suspension. She herself is pursuing a harassment claim against a senior official.

In a union strike leaflet Ms Griffiths accused brigade management of holding "a gun to our heads" over plans to sack all 5,500 London firefighters and re-employ them on new contracts, to force through different shift patterns.