National Highways road traffic officers hold two-day strike

National Highways said it was "confident that this action will have minimal overall impact"

Road traffic officers and control room staff working in the West Midlands and south-west England are staging a two-day strike.

The Public and Commercial Services Union said action by its members was likely to affect signals warning of blockages and mean a reduced ability to respond and deal with collisions.

Other National Highways workers are set to strike on 3 and 4 January.

The public body said it had plans to operate its network safely.

The union also said the action, involving members of the PCS working for National Highways in the two regions, was likely to lead to delays in reopening carriageways and motorways.

'Take extra care'

General secretary Mark Serwotka has previously said: "Previous strikes elsewhere in England have caused disruption for people travelling over the Christmas period, and this strike is likely to do the same.

"While we regret people's travel plans will be affected, we make it very clear this strike could be called off today if the prime minister or chancellor put money on the table."

National Highways, which has its national traffic operations centre in Quinton in the West Midlands, said the PCS strikes involved "a small minority of front-line operational staff".

Executive director of operations Duncan Smith has stated it had "well-rehearsed resilience plans" to continue managing and operating its network safely and was "confident that this action will have minimal overall impact".

He added: "Millions of people rely on our roads and there is a possibility that they may be busier than usual on strike days, particularly when they correspond with industrial action on other transport modes.

"We'd urge drivers to take extra care during the cold weather."