The UK Government was hit yesterday by what trade unions have called the biggest wave of work stoppages since Labour came to power 10 years ago, with up to 400,000 public sector employees going on strike.

Union leaders said the strike by up to 100,000 civil servants caused "widespread disruption" across 10 government departments and agencies, hitting driving tests, coastguard stations, immigration centres, jobcentres, benefit offices and pension contact centres.

Meanwhile, more than 200,000 teachers as well as thousands of college lecturers south of the border staged their first national strike in 20 years in a bitter pay dispute with the government. Up to one-third of schools in England and Wales were said to be disrupted.

The strike by civil servants, involving hundreds of Scottish workers, is the result of frustration over pay rises capped below inflation, the Public and Commercial Services Union said.

The General Secretary of the Trade Unions' Congress (TUC), Brendan Barber, told a rally in London that giving public-sector workers below-inflation pay rises was "no longer good enough" for a Labour government, adding: "We need a fundamental change of direction."

Gordon Brown described the teachers' strike as "unfortunate and regrettable".