Avon Fire & Rescue Service branded ‘absolute disgrace’ by transgender councillor

A transgender councillor has branded Avon Fire & Rescue Service (AFRS) an “absolute disgrace” after a report exposed misogyny, discrimination and bullying in the control room. Bristol city Cllr Kaz Self said staff took part in Pride celebrations while at the same time “mocking people like me in private”.

An independent investigation into the department that handles 999 calls and dispatches crews to incidents found it faced potential employment tribunal claims and mass resignations because morale was at “rock bottom”, arguments broke out easily, “unmanageable” workloads were causing high stress levels and trust in senior leaders was extremely low. The report said examples of regular misogynistic language from male staff included comments about attractive female employees and jokes about transgender Olympic athletes.

In a statement to Avon Fire Authority audit, governance and oversight committee, Cllr Self (Labour, Southmead) said she was extremely disappointed at the inquiry’s findings. She said: “Every day I see comments about transgender people in social media, almost every single one derogatory – food for the banter that is endemic in your organisation.

“AFRS attends Prides, yet mocks people like me in private. You are an absolute disgrace and I am prepared to call you out on that.”

She said that one of the bravest things she ever did was to announce she was transgender to work colleagues at Rolls-Royce in Patchway in 2018. Cllr Self, the first openly transgender female councillor in Bristol, said: “When I walked into the office as a trans woman, I knew that it was going to be hard, that I would need to be resilient, to challenge stereotypes and face up to possibly bullying, misogyny and discrimination.

“I had seen it before in the 1990s, why would it be different? Well, it was different. Because my company had changed its culture, it had become a place where harassment would not be tolerated and where inclusivity was welcomed.”

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She said it was a great honour to have won the trust and votes from Southmead ward residents at the 2024 local elections to succeed fellow Labour Cllr Brenda Massey, the first female chair of the fire authority. Cllr Self said AFRS could change, like Rolls-Royce did.

She said: “You can strive for a high performance culture, where everybody can be their best, where all are welcome and where all citizens of Bristol know you are acting for them. Change comes from the top. The management of AFRS needs to be the driver of culture change and stamp out toxic behaviours.

“It will be painful for some at first but in the long term it will be worth it. I am willing to talk to leaders and all colleagues of AFRS about workplace behaviour if you so wish.”

Assistant chief fire officer for service delivery Luke Gazzard told the meeting – held coincidentally at AFRS Southwest command and development centre in Lansdown, Bath, where the control room is based – on Friday, March 14: “This audit was over and above our contractual obligations. There was a recent disciplinary investigation involving a supervisory manager in our control room.

“That investigation followed due process and ended in an outcome. Around the same time we initiated our professional standards board.

“The outcome goes to that board which reviews that process to see if there is any learning, and it had potential concerns around the comments in the investigations report around the culture and leadership of the control team. We decided to ask for an audit of that department.

“That is quite unusual. We believe we are the first fire service in the UK to ask for a survey review of a specific department. We were brave enough to lift up that stone and take on the findings and resolve to make AFRS a better place to work.”

Mr Gazzard said the probe had not adversely affected the department’s performance. He said the team exceeded the service’s 94 per cent target for answering 999 calls within seven seconds.

Mr Gazzard said: “The report was very difficult to read but we need to acknowledge it and engage with our workforce to resolve those issues. We have started to engage with members of our control and comms team.

“What’s key is that there are some positive areas in the report as well. They are extremely dedicated and passionate about their roles and the service they give to members of the public.”

He said it was important that control room staff helped to shape the changes. Committee chairman and Bristol Cllr Paul Goggin (Labour, Hartcliffe & Withywood) said the report was disappointing.

But he added: “My experience of AFRS is that it’s one big family and it seems as if Control has been somewhat left behind. I’m encouraged by the transparency of dealing with this issue, that the report has been published in full and that we have discussed it.”

Bristol city Cllr Yassin Mohamud (Green, Lawrence Hill) said he had serious concerns that such discriminatory behaviours were happening in the workplace in 2025.