Fire station wall gaffe

A fire station's wall had to be rebuilt because it was the wrong shade of red.

The new wall is now in place - and it looks exactly the same as the old one, according to the Daily Mirror.

The work was part of an unfinished project to build a £6m fire station in Gateshead.

A council official stopped brickies building the 20-metre long, six-metre high wall because under planning rules it had to be made from dark red bricks. The ones they were using had a hint of orange.

Secretary Ken Walters, secretary of the Tyne and Wear Fire Brigades Union, slammed the privately funded building project.

He fumed: "If they can't even guarantee to use the right bricks then what guarantees can we have for fire safety?"

The project's building firm Jarvis paid for the rebuild, saying it had made an "oversight".

Rita Dobson, 60, who works in the Springfield Hotel opposite the fire station, said of the identical new wall: "I can't believe it."