The South East Fire Brigade Union is concerned that if the plans go ahead, it will put lives at risk as well as mean job cuts in Berkshire.

The control centre, currently in Dee Road in Tilehurst would be merged with the Surrey control room meaning all emergency calls would take place from Reigate.

Union representative Paul Watts says "When a call is confused and lost in the middle of the night, we use the landmarks just passed to identify where they are.

"All the technology, whilst it does this to a certain extent, cannot do this all the time.

"Any possible impact on a call handling time could result in a fatality.

"Local knowledge is built up over a number of years by people living in the community they work in, and whilst technology can do some of this, it wouldn't be as good as a highly trained operator in Reigate."

In a statement a spokesman for Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue service says the technology at Dee Road is in urgent need of upgrading and they are considering all options including transferring operations to another service.

A consultation is underway with staff and no final decisions have yet been made.