STRIKING crane drivers claim their action today (Monday, February 1) will bring construction sites to a halt across the region.

Staff at Ainscough Crane Hire are taking strike action across all the company's UK sites, with more than 500 drivers and support staff staging a walk-out.

Dozens of sites across the North-East are expected to be affected, including at the Wilton chemical complex and in Billingham.

The A1 upgrade between Barton, near Darlington, and Leeming, near Northallerton, could also be hit, said strikers. It is believed to affect construction projects at Ineos and Sabic, among others.

Ainscough has two sites in the region, at Washington and Stockton.

Workers' union Unite's 500 crane operators and support staff, who work on construction projects including the new Forth Road Bridge and the M1 and M6 motorway projects, voted for nation-wide strike action by 90 per cent on an 83 per cent turnout.

An overtime ban began on Friday night, with a series of escalating strikes starting today and each week until March 23, across all the company's UK-wide depots.

Unite said its members - "highly skilled crane operatives working in challenging conditions" - had rejected a pay offer of 2.5 per cent, and 2.75 per cent.

They said despite Ainscough making a £14 million profit last year, it had offered a "derisory" pay increase in return.

A spokeswoman for Ainscough Crane Hire said it had offered 2.5 per cent on the base rate, a 1.5 per cent depot performance bonus, a 2.5 per cent rise on the radius allowance and an improvement to mileage rates, from June 2015 to May this year.

It said from June 2016 to May 2017, it offered a further 2.75 per cent increase on the base rate, an increase to two per cent on the depot performance bonus and 2.75 per cent increase on the radius allowance.

Unite national officer for construction Bernard McAulay said: "The strength of this strike ballot result should serve as a wake-up call to management. Our members... deserve better from their multimillion profit making employer.”