CONFIDENTIAL letters sent by worried firefighters to councillors, citing concerns over the way the service is being run, have been published by the Fire Brigades Union.

The FBU has taken the unusual step of revealing the letters, which provoked disciplinary action for 42 firefighters at Basildon, after councillors passed them to fire chiefs.

The union has now made formal complaints against the councillors and has accused the fire authority of failing to deal “robustly and openly” with complaints.

Firefighters were disciplined action after writing to Essex Fire Authority chairman, councillor Tony Hedley, and Jill Reeves, Essex county councillor for Hadleigh. Thirty-seven received written warnings, four had final written warnings and one was sacked.

The firefighters were charged with using “defamatory and disrespectful language” in their letters, which raised questions about frontline cuts, management of the service and the pay of senior managers.

An FBU spokesman said: “MPs and councillors are supposed to be bound by a duty of confidence when they receive letters raising issues. But Mr Hedley and councillor Reeves forwarded the letters and details of the firefighters to fire chiefs without prior consent.

“The ruthless manner in which senior managers responded has effectively placed a gagging order over all Essex firefighters.”

The FBU has written to Essex, Southend and Thurrock councils calling for a formal investigation. Mr Hedley said: “I did not pass on anything I considered confidential and the FBU is fully aware of that. It is trying to stir up an issue, which I believed had reached an amicable resolution, for its own agenda. It is a shame it has come to this.” Mrs Reeves refused to comment and referred the Echo to the county council’s legal team.

Chief fire officer David Johnson said: “They (the FBU) know full well the correspondence they are releasing does not contain the insulting and defamatory material that has been circulating, and to provide balance to their claims it will be my intention to release those letters in due course.

“Individuals were not disciplined for writing to their local councillors and MPs, they were disciplined for attempting to pervert the course of the service’s disciplinary process.”