Hundreds of staff at magistrates' courts across the West Midlands went on strike yesterday for the first time in the service's 800-year history.
A total of 33 courthouses out of the 350 in England and Wales closed completely as a result of the one-day stoppage over pay, according to Government figures.
Around 30 demonstrators, holding placards demanding fairer pay, picketed the Victoria Law Courts in Birmingham, handing leaflets to the passing public.
Wolverhampton and Walsall magistrates' courts were both closed all day, and others across the region were only open for emergencies.
John Gleeson, who works at the Solihull court, said around 40 of the 45 staff were striking.
He said: "Only two courts are open and they are only for emergency, remand cases."
Ushers, legal clerks and administration staff were among those taking strike action, which may be followed by further strikes and work-to-rule in the New Year, with clerks refusing to work longer than their normal hours to finish busy court lists.
Adrian Grove, who works in customer services at Birmingham's magistrates' court, said: "Around 60 per cent of court staff in Birmingham are on strike, but most of those are administrative staff. The customer services department here is totally closed so there is no telephone switchboard and no public counter.
"Most of the legal advisers and ushers are working so some courts are still functioning, but there are no support services.
"Wolverhampton is totally closed and there are no courts running in Walsall."
Another striking staff member, who did not want to be named, said: "Some of the sections have completely closed down. The courts are still running but there has been a lot of disruption caused.
"I believe that the courts in Sutton Coldfield and Solihull may have stopped."
He claimed that manage-ment had tried to put pressure on the strikers by threatening that they would have to work into the Christmas period as a result of taking action.
Dewen Mullings, branch chairman of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) for the West Midlands, said: "Every magistrates' court in the West Midlands is on strike and some have come to a complete stop. There should have been eight or ten courts running at Wolverhampton magistrates' but they are all closed because there are no court staff working."
The PCS, which represents civil servants, carried out a national ballot in which 80 per cent of 7,800 magistrates staff from all over the country voted in favour of action.
The union said it was unhappy with a below-inflation pay increase of 2.2 per cent, but the Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA) said the average pay deal was worth 3.7 percent.
Mr Mullings said 1.5 per cent of that was an incremental pay rise for which local union members had already been on strike in 2002, and which was already part of the terms and conditions of their contracts,
Court staff are some of the lowest-paid civil servants, with 51 percent of administrative staff working in magistrates' courts outside London earn less than £14,000 per year. Other court centres hit by the strike included those in London, Liverpool, Manchester and Nottingham. ..SUPL:
