STRIKING firefighters were last night accused of "holding a gun to the Government's head" as the pay dispute turned increasingly bitter.

Union anger, previously focused on the local authority employers, turned fully on the Government with Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott accused of scuppering a dramatic last-minute deal hammered out between the two sides in the early hours yesterday.

Furious Fire Brigades' Union (FBU) officials accused the Government of running a dictatorship and wrecking the peace deal after Mr Prescott intervened to halt the agreement reached between the two sides ahead of yesterday's 9am deadline.

But last night, as the Prime Minister returned from a Nato conference in Prague, his official spokesman condemned the union and its "gun at the Government's head".

As the row in Westminster raged on, servicemen manning Green Goddesses around the country were left to get on with the dangerous job of covering for the striking firefighters.

Six servicemen were injured as they tackled a blaze in a disused plastics factory in West Bromwich.

In Northumberland, a woman died following a crash between a Rover car and a Transit van on a country road near Bedlington.

A Green Goddess team equipped with cutting equipment arrived on the scene within 15 minutes, but the victim was found to be dead.

In Norfolk, a fire that spread to six houses in King's Lynn was tackled by two Green Goddesses and two retained crews.

And last night, Green Goddesses responded to a nine-car pile-up near Edinburgh which blocked both lanes of a busy dual carriageway. Thirteen people were injured. Firefighters left their picket lines to help cut free one of the injured.

In the North-East, emergency crews said the situation remained quiet last night, with only a handful of minor call-outs - but servicemen were preparing for the worst as the stoppage moved into a second day.

The officer in charge of the Army's logistics in Cleveland, Major Mel Tazey, of the Light Dragoons, said soldiers had received extra training up until last night.

They were taken to a mock village near Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire, for two days of fire-fighting practice.

The major added: "We feel as confident as we did during the first strike but we have honed our skills with these drills."

Details of the negotiations in the early hours of the morning and the last-minute intervention of the Deputy Prime Minister emerged during a day of bitter recriminations.

The talks collapsed at 7.30am when FBU general secretary Andy Gilchrist announced with "incredible regret" that the strike would go ahead.

He said his union's executive had actually agreed to suspend the strike after a new pay deal was tabled by employers giving firefighters a pay rise of 16 per cent achievable over the next year. "But the pattern of Government intervention has continued," he said.

"This strike action could have been avoided but the Government has ensured there will be a strike."

Ted George, chairman of the employers' side, said: "Although we had an agreement in principle, we were unable to identify our funding sources to actually pay for this deal."

Ministers hit back in a succession of briefings and interviews.

The Prime Minister's spokesman said: "If people think that the Government and the country can be held to ransom through strike action, can be bounced through uncosted, half-baked proposals in the middle of the night with little or no mention of modernisation - proposals that, at a cursory estimate by the Treasury, would cost hundreds of millions of pounds - they are not living in the real world.

"How the employers thought they could agree to this is, frankly, completely beyond us. They have essentially written a blank cheque which they must have known would bounce."

Labour Party chairman John Reid said: "The Government will not be held to ransom."

But Mr Gilchrist accused ministers of "reckless and irresponsible behaviour", saying "This is not negotiation. This is almost the politics of dictatorship."

Meanwhile, it emerged that the country could be facing a £10bn bill if the fire strike continues.

Accountancy firm Tenon estimates disruption of £200m a day if rail and London tube services grind to a halt because of the action.

Comment - Page 1