I haven't got time to blog much, and I'm not really here, and you haven't seen me, but I'd really encourage everyone in the capital who can to spend a moment at a picket line talking to firefighters. After this week's appalling press coverage, with the Daily Mail scum being set loose to investigate firefighters' private lives, they need all the solidarity they can get. I should mention that there have been some outstanding successes on the picket lines, as Assetco scab workers have been unwilling to cross. But, I'm afraid that it looks as if management's desperation have led to a horrific incident in Croydon, where a senior officer apparently ran over firefighters who were picketing the station. The rumours say that the station manager has been arrested, but there's no indication of how bad any injuries were.

Update: four firefighters were injured in the collision, it seems, when a station manager accelerated into the picket line with his car. One of them had severe neck and pelvic injuries as he was transported by the impact over the bonnet and roof of the vehicle, and was dumped on the road behind. He has been airlifted to hospital. It is increasingly obvious that even when this strike is over, it won't be over. The management of Brian Coleman and Ron Dobson has been absolutely poisonous, destroying the good will of an invaluable group of workers. They've sabotaged negotiations, lied about and smeared firefighters, leaked their addresses to the press, and placed London at risk by leaving it at the mercy of a bunch of clueless scab workers. When this strike is resolved, they have to go. They are a train wreck, and they've got no business running any public service.

Update II: It gets worse. In yet another collision, a firefighter was injured, as well as a copper, outside Southwark station when a scabbing fire officer drove a fire truck into a picket line. The injuries incurred are not said to be serious.