A firefighting robot developed by West Yorkshire Fire Service at a cost of £30,000 has been scrapped because of its unreliability in emergency situations, it is claimed.

The state-of-the-art Firespy, pictured, has only been used in 14 incidents since it was introduced in June 1999.

The Firespy was developed by the fire service in conjunction with world-renowned digger manufacturer JCB.

The remote-controlled four-wheeled robot was designed to get to the heart of hazardous incidents inside buildings and send back pictures through a camera or be attached with a hose to deal with the fire itself.

It was introduced in a blaze of glory when it was used during a mock-up of a major chemical incident as part of an inspection of the West Yorkshire Brigade by Her Majesty's Inspector of Fire Services.

But Sean Cahill, secretary of the West Yorkshire Fire Brigade's Union, said the robot did not have the reliability of humans in emergency situations.

"There is no replacement for the firefighters themselves," he said. "There are conditions where the health and safety of the crews are at risk and it was hoped that the Firespy could tackle these situations. But it couldn't do the job.

"If the robot was working on a flat area then it was okay. But where there were cables to overcome and other equipment on the floor then it was difficult to operate."

Mr Cahill added that the Firespy was introduced as one of a number of experimental projects by West Yorkshire Fire Authority in 1999. He said many of these had also been withdrawn from service after failing to meet adequate requirements.

A JCB spokesman said: "The machine we developed with the West Yorkshire Fire Authority was a prototype for further machines.

"It has now been developed so it can be operated with a man in the cabin and this kind of machine is used by the Merseyside Fire Service.

"Our part of the project was simply to help develop the machine and what the Fire Service does with it after its introduction is not a matter for us."

A West Yorkshire Fire Service spokesman said: "The JCB Firespy project has been withdrawn because it has not been called out enough times and therefore it is not financially viable to carry on with its use."