'250.000 LONDON PUPILS STUCK AT HOME'

CAPITAL HIT HARDEST BY WALKOUT WEDNESDAY | TRAIN DRIVERS, CIVIL SERVANTS JOIN STRIKES

- Anna Davis, Ross Lydall, Rachael Burford

THE biggest day of strikes in over a decade caused major disruption in London today as teachers, train drivers, bus drivers, lecturers and civil servants walked out.

More than 500,000 workers belonging to seven unions were taking part in "walkout Wednesday" - with little sign of an end to the strikes or the Government backing down. An estimated 250,000 London pupils were stuck at home today because their schools were shut. A further 500,000 were affected because their schools were partially closed, according to Evening Standard analysis. London was expected to be the worst hit area in Britain, with 23 per cent of schools closing completely and 45 per cent partially closed. Some parents only found out this morning whether their children would have to stay at home.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan branded teachers who failed to notify headteachers of  their intention not to turn up for work as “unreasonable” and insisted: “We cannot give inflation-busting pay rises.”

But Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of the National Education Union, said a “toxic combination” of low wages and high workload was forcing teachers to quit. “We have teachers who are worried about whether they can put petrol in their cars to drive to work,” she said.

She said 85 per cent of schools across the country were fully or partially closed “for a strike that didn’t need to happen if the Government had been prepared to negotiate”. Some teachers were having to take second jobs to make ends meet, she added.