Museums close as civil servants strike

The British Museum and Science Museum were among buildings closed in London today as 200,000 civil servants walked out on a 24-hour strike.

Ministers also had to use limousines which had not been cleaned when car fleet employees refused to work.

Pickets were on duty at Heathrow and Gatwick airports as well as Waterloo International station.

They were supporting customs and immigration officials who were also taking part in the protest at government plans to axe 100,000 civil service jobs. At

the Inland Revenue offices at Euston Tower, 600 staff stayed away. In Nottingham driving examiners held a barbecue on the picket line.

A spokesman for the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union, which ordered the action, said: "More than 200,000 people have walked out."

Chancellor Gordon Brown - who ordered the job cuts - said in a statement: "Our decisions mean more police, more teachers, more doctors and more nurses."