STRIKING public sector workers closed schools and disrupted services in the South Hams on Wednesday.

In Dartmouth some a schoolchildren got a 'holiday' while for others it was classroom business as usual as some teachers walked out and others stayed in.

All 530 pupils at Dartmouth Academy were forced to stay at home after headteacher Nick Hindmarsh closed the school.

He said: 'It might have been possible to run some of the Year 11 and primary classes but we couldn't know until the Wednesday morning so on health and safety grounds we took the decision to close.'

But the next door St John's Roman Catholic Primary School was open as usual and so was the village school at Stoke Fleming with 180 pupils.

Blackawton Primary School – with a total of 145 pupils – was able to continue with three of its five classes but the other two were closed for the day.

Dartmouth's South Hams Council-run lower ferry was not operating as members of the Transport and General Workers Union walked out for the day.

It meant longer queues than usual for the Higher Ferry which continued to operate throughout the strike day.

But many of South Hams Council's frontline services were running as normal, said a spokesman.

The council was still collating figures at the time we went to press but early indications were that in the recycling, waste collections, toilet cleaning, street sweeping and gardens maintenance, 38 out of a total of 125 staff are on strike.

Among the services affected were brown wheeled bin collections in Dartmouth, Stoke Fleming, Strete, Slapton, Blackawton, East Allington, Moreleigh and surrounding rural areas. Also affected were the recycling sack collections in the same area.

The council spokesman said: 'If your brown bin is not collected today please leave your bin for collection at the kerbside until it is collected which will be by Monday, December 5, at the latest.

 'If your blue and clear sacks are not collected today please take them back from the kerbside and put them out again on the next collection day which is Wednesday, December 14.'

Also hit was street cleaning, litter bin emptying, greenspace maintenance and the cleaning of public toilets.

The spokesman warned that those services could also be affected Friday.

South Western Ambulance Service Trust's executive medical director Dr Andy Smith said: 'I would like to offer an assurance to the communities we serve across our operational area of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, Devon, Dorset and Somerset, that despite the industrial action, serious emergencies will get an immediate response. We would urge people to "Choose Well".

'Is their call most appropriate to direct to the ambulance service, or is it best suited to an alternative care provider like a GP, walk in-centre or NHS Direct?

'There are members of ambulance staff, both front line and non front line, who have chosen to support industrial action.

'The Trust has worked in partnership with trade union representatives to ensure that existing contingency plans can be implemented to maintain services to patients.

'No-one has engaged in strike action lightly as our staff are passionate about the vital role they play within the National Health Service'.

The strikes were co-ordinated by the Trade Union Congress, which saw members of unions representing a wide range of public sector workers taking part.

The action was prompted by Government plans to cut public sector workers' pensions. Unions say the proposals will leave their members paying more and working longer for less.

Stuart Fegan, GMB Union senior organiser, said: 'We call upon the Government to enhance pensions in the private sector not destroy those in the public sector instead.

'We are looking for negotiation from the Government, not the imposition of such devastating and unnecessary measures'.

Fiona Westwood, of teachers' union NASUWT, said: 'The link between high educational standards and the pay, conditions and pensions of those who help to deliver them is crucial.

'If we cannot recruit and retain people in the teaching profession, educational standards decline and the current headteacher recruitment shortage becomes a crisis.

'The best way for the Government to avert the regrettable position we are in is to seek a genuinely negotiated settlement.

'There has been little evidence of this so far.'

Chris Musgrave, UNISON regional organiser, said: 'The Government's position on public sector pensions is political, not financial.

'UNISON believes that everyone deserves an adequate pension, including workers in the private sector.

'We should improve bad schemes rather than make good ones bad.

'Both the local government pension scheme and the NHS pension schemes are cash rich with income exceeding outgoings.

'This is why we say these proposals are unjustified.'

Terry Keefe, UNITE regional officer, said: 'Why should public sector workers have to pay 50 percent more to get 50 percent less for their pensions?

'These proposals are scandalous and unnecessary. We want to have genuine negotiation with the Government instead of these imposed unacceptable changes.'