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Hundreds of schools are to close across Teesside during strike action by public sector workers on Wednesday.

Thousands of NHS workers and council staff will be joining teachers in the walk-out in a row over pensions.

Middlesbrough's Transporter Bridge will be closed, as will some libraries and leisure centres. Refuse collection services will also be affected.

The government said it needed to make changes to pensions because people were living longer.

It urged people not to strike and said it was open to more talks.
Extra police

Middlesbrough Council said services which had an agreed exemption to the strike included cemeteries and crematorium, gritting if necessary, and some staff who work with vulnerable adults and children.

Picket lines will be in place outside many council buildings and there will be rallies and marches around the region.

Cleveland Police said it had drafted in extra manpower and cancelled the leave of around 100 officers.

The North East ambulance Service said it was expecting to run a near-normal emergency service, but its patient transport service would be be limited to those needing services such as dialysis or cancer care.

Tom Brennan, GMB Regional Secretary, said: "It is about time that the government started to appreciate and praise public sector workers rather than attacking them, vilifying them and kicking them around."

However, in a speech to the Policy Exchange think tank, Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove said it was "unfair and unrealistic" to expect taxpayers to foot the increasing public sector pensions bill.