Press in air deal

AIRPORT firefighters dramatically returned to work yesterday afternoon following nearly three hours of talks with Chief Minister Lyndon Trott.

The meeting followed an invitation to Guernsey Press editor Richard Digard to hear the men's grievances at first hand following what they regarded as hostile coverage of the industrial action in yesterday's Guernsey Press.

That led to Deputy Trott also being asked to attend and, during the course of the briefing, firefighters presented new head of States human resources Simon Elliott with a possible solution to the action.

As a gesture of goodwill, the fire crews also offered to provide full cover with immediate effect and their shop steward called the control tower at 3.30pm to break the unexpected news.

They have agreed to continue to provide full cover for the rest of the day while more talks take place.

The development took management and airlines by surprise as they were dealing with the consequences of all flights having been cancelled, but Aurigny was the first away with an Alderney arrival landing at 4.45pm.