HUNDREDS of retained firefighters across the North-East and North Yorkshire are waiting to see whether a test case will entitle them to a fire service pension.

The House of Lords has granted the Fire Brigades' Union leave to appeal on behalf of the UK's 15,000 retained firefighters excluded from the pensions scheme.

The union began preparing for the case this week, but no date has yet been set for the hearing.

The outcome will affect hundreds of so-called "part-timers" in the region, based mainly in rural areas.

In North Yorkshire, more than 300 retained firefighters make up about 50pc of the fire and rescue service. Four of the five stations in Richmondshire are manned by retained crews.

Philip Bastow, senior officer at Reeth fire station, said 90pc of his retained team were self-employed, on call 24 hours a day and deserved a fire service pension.

"We are still waiting to hear exactly what a ruling would mean for us and our colleagues at Hawes, Leyburn and Colburn," he said. "We are not part-timers; we are on call 24 hours a day. I have just introduced a rota system with red and blue watch simply to give the lads a chance to know they can be at home every other weekend."

Of the county's 37 fire stations, 24 are crewed by retained firefighters.

More than 12,000 individual cases for pension parity were lodged by the FBU at employment tribunals across the UK in 2001. These were whittled down to 12 lead cases based on the exclusion of retained crews from the pension scheme and poorer sick pay arrangements.

The union claims retained firefighters are treated differently because they are considered part-time, and that is illegal.

An Appeal Court ruling in July last year agreed that retained crews worked to the same contract as regular firefighters but accepted the employers' argument that they did not do broadly similar work. The court said wholetimers had extra duties such as education and fire prevention work and rejected the appeal.

Mr Bastow said retained fire stations covered most of rural North Yorkshire and their work was the same as fully staffed stations.

John McGhee, FBU national officer, said retained firefighters were treated unjustly, unfairly and unlawfully. "They are denied the basic employment rights enjoyed by the rest of the fire service," he said. "Many retained firefighters serve their communities for 30 or 40 years and retire without a fire service pension and that is wrong."