STRIKES that would have caused misery for tens of thousands of revellers, Christmas shoppers and football fans were called off at the last minute last night.

The first of two walkouts on the Tyne and Wear Metro system was due to start at 9pm, but it was put off after eleventh-hour talks.

With less than an hour to go before management were to begin winding down the network, a deal was struck with union leaders.

It followed six hours of talks organised by conciliation service Acas, between bosses at service operator Nexus and the RMT, Amicus and TGWU unions.

Union leaders accused Nexus of failing to keep a promise to reduce the working week from 37 to 35 hours, as part of a pay deal agreed last year. The 400 workers voted for a strike earlier this week.

Yesterday, the company put a new deal to negotiators. The unions will hold a further ballot before Christmas and will recommend that members accept the offer.

Nexus had warned that the 24-hour strike - coupled with a further 48-hour stoppage scheduled for next week - would cause severe problems, for both revellers and Christmas shoppers, plus Newcastle United fans travelling to St James' Park for the match against Tottenham Hotspur this afternoon.

A spokesman for Amicus said: "It has been a long, hard slog, but eventually, we have got something that satisfies both sides."

He said the talks had carried on in a bid to prevent traffic chaos.

"Both sides have been aware of the uncertainty with the public," he said

"It wasn't just one side taking the moral high ground, it was a case of trying to resolve this issue and stop the strikes. We have achieved that."

The deal is understood to include reducing the working week to 36 hours from January, plus offering workers an extra day's holiday a year and a lump sum.

Nexus director Mike Parker said he was very relieved that a deal had been agreed.