Who is striking? How Thursday 22 December’s walkouts will affect you

On Thursday picket lines will largely fall silent. Nurses, posties, railway workers and ambulance staff are back in work.

But there are still some strikes happening and the respite from much of the industrial action will be brief.

This is my latest daily briefing, with lots of useful information.

Highway workers

National Highways traffic officers in the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) working in London and the south-east of England will stop work from 22 to 25 December.

The strike will involve control centre staff. Traffic officers who work in the aftermath of accidents will also stop work.

PCS says the walkout is likely to reduce the number of officers able to deal with collisions and cause delays to re-opening carriageways and motorways.

National Highways says no roads will be closed and it has "well-rehearsed resilience plans in place".

Cancelled driving tests

Driving test examiners who are members of the PCS - including driving examiners - are striking on Thursday.

Some vehicle testing and enforcement services are also affected.

Until 24 December, the walkouts will affect driving test centres in north-west England and Yorkshire and the Humber. The strike action will not affect theory tests.

After Christmas - from 28 December to Tuesday 3 January - the strike will move to the east of England, East Midlands, West Midlands and parts of London.

• When and where are the PCS strikes?

Watch Make Sense of Strikes on iPlayer and find out more about why people are striking and whether industrial action works.

From Thursday teatime, we will have another strike briefing for you - looking ahead across the whole Christmas and New Year period.

Several unions are planning walkouts next week and in the first week of January.

When are Royal Mail staff on strike this week?

Members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) will walk out on Friday 23 and Saturday 24 December.

The last posting days have already passed for both first and second-class Christmas mail.

When is the next train strike?

There is ongoing disruption and some localised strikes throughout this week and well into next, but a national strike of RMT members is due to start at 18:00 on 24 December until 06:00 on 27 December. Network Rail says that most train journeys will end at 15:00 on Christmas Eve.

• The train strike days in December and January

Even on days when strikes aren't happening, many passengers are facing reduced services due to an overtime ban by the RMT union at 14 train companies. The ban runs until 2 January. On some lines, that means services starting late and finishing early.

• East Midlands Trains - Unite union strikes on Friday 23 and Saturday 24 December

• CrossCountry - TSSA union strikes on Monday 26 and Tuesday 27 December

• GWR and West Midlands Railway - TSSA union strikes Wednesday 28 and Thursday 29 December

• Train drivers across 15 rail companies will stage a fresh strike on 5 January in a long-running row over pay

Take a look at the Network Rail advice.

When are Border Force staff striking?

Every day from 23 December to New Year's Eve - except Tuesday 27 December - it could take longer to get through passport control at Birmingham, Cardiff, Gatwick, Glasgow, Heathrow and Manchester airports. The port of Newhaven will also be affected.

About 1,000 Border Force staff who are members of the PCS union - are expected to walk out. Armed Forces personnel and Home Office volunteers will be stepping in for striking officers.

• Border staff to strike over Christmas

The head of operations for the Border Force, Steve Dann, said he hoped to keep all airports and ports open, but passengers should expect some disruption. The government is recommending people check with travel operators before embarking on their journeys.

There will be more information on how this might affect your travel plans in Thursday's briefing.

• Check out our full rundown of all the December and January strikes

• What are trade unions and who can go on strike?