Fire chiefs have raked in more than £64,000 in just eight months - charging firms and organisations over false 999 alarms.

The fines are imposed on non-domestic premises such as hospitals, schools, universities and businesses such as hotels.

All are now liable to be hit by the fines under are West Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service’s automatic fire alarm policy.

After three calls to the same premises inside 12 months, any further call-outs are charged at £350 a time.

The pilot scheme was introduced in April last year and figures have been released for the first eight months which show 134 invoices totalling more than £64,400 have been issued.

And the figures show fines have soared in three months from September to November last year equating to £46,200 in revenue for the service.

Those premises which are issued fines also have the right to appeal the decision, and the service recorded 15 appeals had been received, 13, had been upheld and two dismissed.

Holme Junior and Infant School was one of those which successfully appealed the fine.

And Royds Hall High School in Paddock had two appeals upheld and one dismissed.

The Fire Service claims the ‘cost recovery’ measures have been implemented to drive down the number of false alarms and unwanted fire signals by encouraging those responsible for fire alarms to manage them in an appropriate manner.

Fire protection manager Chris Kemp said: “In terms of how the pilot is running, we are continually evaluating the process which has seen some excellent work done by those organisations which previously required improvement.

“We have worked alongside organisations to help them drive down the number of false alarms. However, it is important that those responsible for premises continue to managed their fire alarm systems now and in the future and we will continue to work with them to support a sustained reduction in false alarms.”

An update on the automated fire alarm scheme will be given to Fire Authority members at Community Safety Committee meeting on February 13.

The pilot scheme will run until November this year when a decision will be taken whether to continue it.