Firemen demoted and fined for shining torch on gay foursome in the bushes

The crew spotted the men engaged in illegal 'dogging' - outdoor sexual activity with strangers - on parkland known as the Downs in Bristol late one night.

After embarrassing the men by pointing their torches at them, the crew continued on their way to their fire station.

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But one of the 'doggers' complained to Avon Fire and Rescue, ultimately accusing the four-man crew of being homophobic.

The firemen, who have 26 years of service between them, were then suspended on full pay for three months during an internal investigation.

Yesterday it emerged that two have been fined £1,000 each, another demoted to a rank which will see him forfeit a similar amount of money, while a fourth has received a stern written warning.

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It is believed Avon Fire and Rescue plans to give the money raised from the fines to a gay rights charity.

Among those being considered is the Jamaican Forum for Lesbians All-Sexuals and Gays.

The crew have been transferred to other stations and ordered to attend an equality course.

But no action has been taken against any of the men believed to have been involved in the dogging.

The one who complained is said to be 'happy' at the outcome of the disciplinary proceedings in which the firemen were charged with bringing the service into disrepute and misuse of fire equipment.

The firemen, formerly members of Avon Fire Service's Blue Watch at Avonmouth station in Bristol, have been banned from discussing the incident, which took place at about 10.30pm on June 27.

But one of their colleagues said yesterday: 'This is a complete farce. All four officers have been let down by their senior officers when they needed their support the most.

'They have been treated as the criminals and it has been forgotten that they witnessed criminal activity occurring in a public place.'

Another fireman said: 'There are a lot of firefighters in Avon who feel the four involved have been treated very unfairly so the service can be seen as being politically correct.'

Fire chiefs were alerted to the incident by the Terrence Higgins Trust, which has supported the man allegedly seen performing the sex act.

Simon Nelson, the charity's acting regional manager, said: 'The member of the public simply wanted to know why the fire service was on the Downs at that time of day. We passed on that complaint.'

Avon's chief fire officer Kevin Pearson said: 'There was no justifiable reason for that appliance to be in that location at that time. They should not have been there and there was no operational justification for their actions.

'We received a complaint about the behaviour of our staff and a full inquiry was conducted as a consequence.

'We investigated and the crew were found to be in breach of our internal policies.'

He added that the investigation would have had the same outcome if the complainant had been heterosexual. The police confirmed they had not been made aware of the incident.