Coastguard's two-day strike ends

The 48-hour Coastguard strike ends on Monday evening.

A 48-hour Bank Holiday-weekend strike involving local Coastguard staff has come to an end.

The strike action was taken by office-based rescue co-ordinators, who are angry at being paid less than other emergency services.

However, boat crews of the RNLI were operating as normal.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency said contingency plans were in place, but reminded holidaymakers and boat users to take extra care throughout the day.

About 700 members of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) across the UK began their walkout on Saturday.

The strike followed five days of industrial action earlier this year at rescue co-ordination centres.

The PCS claims staff have experienced real-terms pay cuts, with pay rises averaging 2.5% for most staff, and less than 1% for senior personnel.

Staff want a rise of £3,000 on their current base salary of about £12,500 a year.