West Yorkshire Fire Authority will speak to businesses about plans to introduce charges for false alarm call-outs.
The authority’s Community Safety Committee, which meets next week, will discuss a proposal to invoice commercial premises for a special call-out charge of £350 plus VAT where firefighters have attended more than three false alarms in a rolling 12-month period.
A report to the meeting says that during 2012, West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service attended 228 non-domestic premises that had more than three false alarms due to a malfunctioning or mis-installed system.
The incidents would have generated 1,663 individual charges, resulting in recovery of costs to the value of £582,050 plus VAT.
The document states: “The introduction of a charging policy will be one that creates a large amount of debate within the business community of West Yorkshire and may have a significant impact on small to medium enterprises.”
A consultation period will run from June 1 to July 31.
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