HAMPSHIRE firefighters were claiming they still had the public's backing as the first of three planned eight-day strikes ended.

Crews at stations across the county said they had been inundated with festive support and gifts from people.

At Redbridge Hill fire station in Southampton, picketing firefighters displayed a £200 wad of cash that had been given to them by an anonymous woman just hours before they went back to work at 9am on Saturday.

Colleagues across the city at Hightown had been given £500 towards their strike fund.

Despite deadlock in the pay talks, morale remains high as firefighters at Redbridge went through their training drills at the weekend to get rid of any rustiness caused by the strike.

Firefighter Tony Brown, 42, said: "The strike has built a bond between us and that is largely thanks to the public support.

"We had £200 given to us by a woman this morning and at Hightown Fire Station, in Southampton, they were given £500.

"The whole county was solid during the eight-day strike and we kept it all together despite the government expecting us to break up."

At Winchester, Sub Officer Dave Graham said: "It is wonderful to be back doing our job, serving the public. At 9am on Saturday the sense of relief at being able to get back inside and start doing the checks was spot-on.

"We would like to thank the public for their support. There has been a change. We are seeing more people in BMWs and Mercedes tooting us. I think it's because more of the truth about what the government is doing is coming out."

Sub-officer Jim Stone at Fareham fire station said: "The past eight days have been terribly frustrating for all of us and we have been talking about the effect it has had.

"We hope the public is just as strong as it always was but we are concerned with the power some of the national media have had.

"At the end of the day we are reasonable people who just want a reasonable settlement."

Firefighters are demanding their salaries are increased by 40 per cent from £21,000 to £30,000 a year.

During the last 48 hours of the strike, firefighters in the county were called to 21 serious road traffic accidents, cutting free the occupants of vehicles at 14 of them. Striking firefighters broke their pickets on nine occasions during this period. Military crews attended three road accidents during the same period.

Fire Brigades Union members are due back on the picket lines at 9am on Wednesday when the second of three eight-day strikes is planned to begin.

The third is scheduled to start at 9am on Monday, December 16.