WORKERS at a file store in Nelson picketed their workplace this morning as a civil service strike moved into its second day.

A union representative at the Department for Work and Pensions file store in Brunswick Street estimated three quarters of the staff joined the strike. Members of the Public and Commercial Services union in the Government department are striking for better pay.

Nelson rep Mark Payne said: "We estimate that three quarters of the staff did not go in today and those who did were mainly casual staff and line managers. People are fed up of poverty pay."

The DWP said just 30 per cent of its 140,000-strong workforce took strike action yesterday, closing 146 out of 1,300 offices.

But the union said up to 90 per cent of its members had answered the strike call.

It also warned that driving tests would be cancelled today as examiners joined the action.

The Driving Standards Agency advised people to turn up at test centres as normal this morning because it did not know how many examiners would join the strike.