A Cash-strapped fire authority forked out £3,000 for a chief officer to have private surgery for a back problem.

Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service made the payment to Chief Fire Officer Mark Yates, who is paid £120,000 a year.

The payment was revealed through a freedom of information request reported yesterday.

It went towards the £5,090 operation, which was carried out last October.

The authority also coughed up £230 for physiotherapy.

The back problem is reported to be "not work-related" and the decision to award the cash was taken behind closed doors.

The fire authority is set to chop £4 million in spending, including by axing front-line firefighters' jobs and equipment.

The cuts will be spread over three years. The authority is also increasing its "precept" - the amount of money it takes from council tax.

Authority chairman Derek Prodger said the payment was cheaper than paying someone to cover Mr Yates's job while he waited 12 weeks for treatment on the NHS.

But Fire Brigades Union branch secretary Steve Gould said the decision made the brigade look "out of touch with reality" at a time when it was planning to cut fire engine numbers.

"Mark Yates earns £120,000 a year and yet when we've asked for financial assistance to help firefighters overcome injury we've always been knocked back," he said.

"The fire service can't operate on the principle of one rule for the chief and another for everyone else."