Firefighters sounded vuvuzelas outside the London Fire Brigade headquarters last week in protest at proposed shift changes.

The plastic instruments, made famous by their use in South Africa during the World Cup, were a departure from the fire alarms and whistles that have been used in protests by the Fire Brigade Union in the past.

Hundreds of firefighters gathered outside the headquarters in South London on Friday to interrupt a meeting between the fire service and the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority.

They worry that changing shift times from two 9am to 6pm shifts and then two 6pm to 9am shifts followed by four days off, to shifts that start and finish at 8am and 8pm will cause difficulties in arranging childcare as well as other problems.

Matt Wrack, Fire Brigades Union general secretary, said: “We know that the proposed 12-hours-on 12-hours-off shift patterns are a prelude to cutting night time fire cover.”

“We are not going to allow the London Fire Brigade to impose these changes and pretend it is modernisation.” said London’s FBU executive member, Ian Leahair.