Trainee firefighters get the sack for cheating exam

NINE trainee firefighters have been sacked for cheating in an exam.

Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service said their actions were unacceptable and that it had acted quickly to deal with the situation.

The fire service put its training course at Earlswood Training Centre, Jersey Marine, on hold last November after allegations of cheating were made. Twelve recruits were suspended and an investigation got under way.

A fire service spokesman said: “The internal investigation has now concluded and based on the information provided and the evidence before us, the service has resolved to terminate the employment of nine individuals with immediate effect.

“As a service, we expect our staff to conduct themselves in line with our core values, which set out high levels of expected behaviour.

“On this occasion, those involved behaved in a manner which is not acceptable and as such, we acted promptly to bring this to an appropriate conclusion.”

The training course puts recruits who have passed a selection process through their paces.

The fire service’s budget for 2023-24 will be £63.2 million, more than £9 million more than currently. People in Swansea, Neath Port Talbot, Carmarthenshire, Powys, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire fund almost all of the budget through a levy on their council tax.

The above-inflation increase was approved by Mid and West Wales Fire Authority, which oversees the service, earlier this month. A report before the authority said trainee firefighters earned £24,191, as of July 2021.

A small number of qualified firefighters from Mid and West Wales have been sharing their search and rescue expertise in earthquake-damaged Turkey in recent days.