SERVICES in South Devon have remained largely unaffected by a national strike.

More than 250,000 civil servants around the country were expected to down tools yesterday and today as part of two days of industrial action over changes to the Civil Service compensation scheme.

Courts, immigration officers, tax offices, coastguard stations, MoD centres and all other central government agencies were expected to be affected.

Representatives of the Public and Commercial Services union said the strike had been going well.

However, while picket lines formed outside tax offices and job centres in Exeter and Plymouth, the offices in Torquay as well as courts in South Devon remained open.

Brixham coastguards also went to work after deciding to 'put people's safety first'.

Jessica Pearce, a regional secretary for PCS, said: "It's very strong. We've got several pickets. There were talks that courts and coastguards didn't close.

"There will always be a bit of leeway for coastguards because they are an emergency service.

"But it doesn't mean people didn't strike. It just means enough people went to work to keep it open.

"Not everyone is a member of a union and managers will do whatever they can to keep services running."

Robert Fielder, representative for the PCS union with Brixham coastguards, said all 25 members remained angry with the Government's proposal to do away with civil servants' retirement packages.

He said: "No one is on strike. Our members decided public safety had to come first and was more important than redundancy payments.

"Last time going on strike was our last option because the Government wasn't listening."

He added: "We're running out of money in this country. The civil service has been made to pay for the banks.

"We're being forced to give up our long term pay to keep the banks going."

Mr Fielder said Brixham coastguards had carried out 1,200 search and rescue missions last year and rescued 300 people.

He added: "Who have the banks rescued?"

Mark Clark, a spokesman for the Maritime and Coastguards Agency, confirmed most of the 19 stations in the UK remained open yesterday and today with most staff going to work as normal.

He said: "It is patchy, but we've got our stations working as normal.

"Where it's patchy the boat users will not see the difference because we have put our contingency plans in place."

A spokeswoman for South Devon courts said some employees may have gone on strike, but services were running as normal.

A spokesperson from the Department for Work and Pensions said: "All Job Centres in the country are open."