TWO Green Goddesses are set to arrive at Basingstoke police station on Monday, ready for next week's strike by firefighters.

The engines, which will be manned by around 20 Royal Navy staff, will park outside the police station and will be guided to emergencies by a traffic police officer on a motorcycle.

Their first shift will start at 9am on Tuesday, when the first 48-hour strike takes place.

The Green Goddesses are part of the same fleet, built in the 1950s, which was used in the last fire strike in 1977.

Army, Navy and Royal Air Force officers have been undergoing intensive firefighting training after last-ditch talks between local authority bosses and the Fire Brigades Union broke down last month.

One Basingstoke firefighter, who did not wish to be named, told The Basingstoke Extra that the Goddesses are slow, with manual gears, so they will have problems with Basingstoke's major roads and roundabouts.

He added that they are poorly equipped for rescue work.

"We go to more road traffic accidents than fires, but the Green Goddesses have not got the capability to deal with anything like that," he said.

Fire Brigades Union members voted to strike on Friday because they want a pay rise from £21,000 to £30,000 for a qualified firefighter.

Basingstoke's top police officer, Superintendent Alison Queen, said she will have to move police out of a ground-floor office to make room for naval staff.

"Clearly we will accommodate them as best we can, but it's going to cause problems with parking in an already very full car park," she said.

"We have no spare capacity in the station, so it's going to be tight."