VIDEO: Half a million strike in UK as cost-of-living crisis bites

Gulf Today Report

About half a million British teachers, civil servants, train drivers and university lecturers took part in the biggest coordinated strike for decades, which the government says will cause widespread business disruption.

The strike witnessed the closure of schools and the readiness of the army to provide assistance at the borders, as railway services were also stopped in most parts of the country.

Britain has seen waves of strikes, from teachers to Amazon warehouse people and Royal Mail employees, with inflation soaring to more than 10 per cent, the highest level in four decades.

About 300,000 teachers and almost 100,000 authorities personnel from greater than 120 departments, tens of thousands of university lecturers, and workers in the railway sector took part in the strike on Wednesday.

Europe is combating a cost-of-living crisis and the last strike comes a day after 1.27 million took to the streets in France, upping pressure on the French government over pension reform plans.

Britain's umbrella labour organization the Trades Union Congress (TUC) called it the largest strike since 2011.

"We are protesting due to the fact that for the past 10 years we had efficiently had a pay cut," stated an employee and union consultant Graham, who desired now no longer to provide his full name.

"Some of our members, even though they are working, still have to make visits to food banks," he told reporters.