Fifteen years ago, a day of discontent caused severe disruption on April 23, 2008, as teachers, college lecturers and civil servants took part in the country's biggest wave of strikes for a decade.

Union bosses estimated that 70 per cent of schools in the region were affected by the industrial action.

A survey by The Northern Echo confirmed that about 300 schools in the North-East and North Yorkshire were forced to close for the day.

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Members of the National Union of Teachers (NUT) were joined in the walkout by lecturers from the University and College Union (UCU).

Picket lines were formed outside colleges throughout the region.

Staff at the two Land Registry offices in Durham City walked out at lunchtime, and the strike also affected Driving Standards Agency test centres.

All driving tests in Darlington were cancelled, while others centres ran reduced schedules.

Union bosses told the rally that the co-ordinated walkout had been a huge success.

The £1.9m overspend on Darlington's new link road was down to a host of management errors by the borough council, an independent report revealed in April 2008.

But bosses at the authority said the problems would not be repeated because an in-house management restructure had been put in place, and no disciplinary action will be taken against officers.

Opposition councillors blamed the cabinet member in charge of transport for the problems.

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Darlington Borough Council announced in November 2007 that the cost of the Eastern Transport Corridor – the new route linking the A66 to Haughton Road – had rocketed by 15 per cent from £12.5m to £14.4m.

The authority's cabinet committee ordered an independent inquiry and EC Harris – a Billingham-based firm of construction consultants – was paid £22,000 to carry it out.

The results revealed a series of mistakes plagued the scheme, including that the budget did not include compensation claims, which totalled £600,000, made by residents whose house prices were adversely affected.