AN INVESTIGATION has taken place after North Yorkshire fire crews were sent to the wrong address by a control room based almost 400 miles away.

Crews from Harrogate were initially sent more than two miles away from where they should have been by call operators in Cornwall.

North Yorkshire and Cornwall fire services share control room operations during busy periods, as part of a collaborative money-saving scheme launched last summer.

The fire service said crews attending the blaze involving a car at a garage at Killinghall Business Park, near Harrogate, were delayed around 13 minutes as a result of the mix-up – however, the Fire Brigades Union claimed the engines were 17 minutes late.

The brigade said the control operator was unable to get an accurate initial location, and while the operator was seeking additional information the call, made from a mobile phone, “dropped out for an unknown reason”.

A spokesman said: “Due to the difficulties experienced whilst taking the call, fire engines were initially sent to the wrong address.

“This type of event will happen occasionally and is not related to where the call was taken.”

But local FBU chairman Simon Wall insisted that the call operator was told the fire was at Killinghall Business Park – and had even written it down – but the crews were still sent to the wrong address.

He added: “If it was a house fire or a crash it could have been extremely serious.”