Fire chief in Torremolinos suspended from duty

TORREMOLINOS Council has decided to suspend the head of the fire service for a year for “having employed an official vehicle for personal use” following investigations it undertook sparked by complaints from some of his colleagues.

Reports claim that private detectives were employed to follow the man for almost two weeks, whereupon they discovered that he would leave home every day at 7.30am and drive to work, but return about an hour later in an official vehicle, taking a different route every day. He would then use plastic covers to hide the Torremolinos department logos on the car doors.

These events occurred in September last year, and caused a number of firefighters to send letters to the former mayor, Pedro Fernandez Montes, to complain that the head of the fire service had been missing from his post on many occasions over the previous year, passing his duties onto others, and it was impossible to contact him in emergencies.

The detectives, who followed him for 11 days, said they believed it was because he was carrying out odd jobs for a Malaga company during the day when he should have been on duty at the fire station.

Although the man has appealed against the council’s decision and has been readmitted to his post until a judge makes a decision, at the very least he faces possible fines for his absence from his post.