Related: Ambulance strike to go ahead as talks fail to break deadlock
Families are being urged to set their Christmas travel plans in motion “as soon as possible” as a four-day motorway strike set to coincide with a fresh wave of rail walkouts threatens travel mayhem over the festive period.
National Highways workers will go on strike from today until Christmas Day in the latest phase of industrial action by the biggest civil service union ahead of the Christmas weekend.
The strike involves members of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) working as on-road traffic officers and regional operating centre operatives, in London and southeast England.
It comes as industrial action on Britain’s rail network will see some trains stop running from Friday ahead of national strikes starting on Christmas Eve.
The Independent’s Simon Calder has urged families to hit the roads as “soon as you possibly can”, saying: “I’ve never known a Christmas quite like this for travel stress.
He added: “Towards the end of the week and on Christmas Day it’s going to get very very tricky, with the roads being very crowded.
“And the railways, well, services will end either on Friday night or pretty early on Saturday.”
Government could ‘fast-track’ NHS pay rise in 2023 as more strikes loom
Rishi Sunak’s government could fast-track an NHS pay rise next year after 48 hours of historic strikes by nurses and paramedics, according to reports.
Health secretary Steve Barclay is said to be ready to offer an expedited pay deal in 2023 in a bid to prevent fresh industrial action next year.
A source close to Mr Barclay revealed he is keen to “speed up” the pay review process – set to begin in April – to give NHS staff a pay rise to break the deadlock.
Emily Atkinson22 December 2022 11:45
Rail strikes about to begin in France
Semi-official strikes by train guards in France have wrecked the Christmas travel plans of an estimated 200,000 passengers on SNCF, the national operator.
Hundreds of guards working for SNCF will stop work over the next two weekends as part of a pay dispute. They have refused a deal offering a €600 (£522) bonus on top of a general 6 per cent pay rise at the rail organisation.
Their union, SUD Rail, has not officially sanctioned the strike, which has been…
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