The Fire Brigades Union in Scotland has dismissed allegations that its members have intimidated their part-time colleagues.

Retained firefighters in West Dunbartonshire are said to have been prevented from using a fire tender.

Walter Stewart, the Scottish chairman of the Retained Firefighters Union, said the incident happened at Balloch on Loch Lomond.

But his remarks were rejected out of hand by John McDonald, the Scottish member of the FBU executive.

I wish he would keep his nose out of the talks. He knows nothing of what is happening

John McDonald FBU

The spat came on the second day of the 48-hour stoppage across the UK, which ended at 1800 GMT on Friday.

Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland, Mr Stewart said: "There has been intimidation.

"An example I can give you is Balloch fire station where pickets blocked an entrance to the fire bay for the pump with cars and also the entrance to the car park.

"Firefighters who wished to respond to calls to that station could not get access."

Union 'irrelevant'

Mr Stewart also said that many part-time fire service staff were leaving the FBU and joining the Retained Fire Fighters' Union.

"These firefighters did not take part in the ballot and did not want to strike," he insisted.

"These firefighters want to work to serve their communities."

The action ends at 1800 GMT

But Mr McDonald countered: "Walter Stewart is taking absolute nonsense.

"We are standing at our picket lines. If anybody was intimidating another firefighter we would certainly deal with it."

Mr McDonald said the retained firefighters union was "an irrelevance" with a tiny membership.

He said: "I wish he would keep his nose out of the talks. He knows nothing of what is happening."

Locks row

Speaking for the Scottish local authority employers, Cosla, Pat Watters said the dispute would not be settled by "shouting over a picket line".

He said: "We will only solve this by sitting down round the table talking about it."

Fire facts

Scotland has 4,588 full-time firefighters 2,799 part-time firefighters 1,200 volunteer firefighters 520 fire engines 30 aerial appliances 14 rescue and emergency vehicles 59 other specialist vehicles 109 Green Goddesses are being used in Scotland

Meanwhile, striking firefighters who left a picket line to tackle a house blaze had to put equipment in their own cars because their fire engines were locked.

The firefighters evacuated the house in Ayr and extinguished the blaze before the Green Goddess fire tenders, operated by military personnel, arrived on the scene.

The national co-ordinator of the Scottish Churches' Industrial Mission, the Reverend Erik Cramb, has warned that time for talking is running out.

After meeting pickets in Dundee, Mr Cramb said there had to be compromise.

Hoaxes down

The number of hoax 999 calls received by the police and military saw a big reduction during the second night of the strike.

In the Strathclyde area, where more than 200 hoax calls were received on the first evening of the walkout, the numbers were down to a handful.

The number of malicious calls on Wednesday night led to the head of Scotland's prosecution service pledging to clamp down on hoax fire callers and to fast track them through the courts.