Four unwanted fire engines which served the streets of West Yorkshire are to get a new lease of life in Africa.
The Zambian High Commissioner His Excellency Silumelume Mubukwanu swapped the climes of his homeland for Birkenshaw yesterday to pick up the engines from West Yorkshire's Chief Fire Officer Phil Toase, pictured.
Councillor Ray Mitchell, chairman of the West Yorkshire Fire and Civil Defence Authority, said: "Given the depressed state of the resale market and the limited storage space for non-operational vehicles, we had to look around for other means of disposing of these engines.
"I think this solution provides an excellent deal for tax payers while also providing badly needed humanitarian aid."
The engines were sold for a nominal price to petrol giant BP Amoco. The firm runs a charitable scheme and agreed to transport the vehicles on board one of its tankers to Lusaka in Zambia.
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