Staff in the Unison and Unite unions walked out on Wednesday claiming a 2.45 per cent pay offer from their employers amounted to a pay cut given rising inflation.

The action was supported in Peterborough by 10 per cent of city council workers, with less than 300 downing tools for the two-day stoppage.

But the disruption to bin pick-ups may not be sorted out until next week even if crews work today as council bosses expect.

Unison regional organiser for Peterborough and Fenland, Phil Gooden, said his members regretted the inconvenience to the public but had no choice other than to refuse to work.

He said: "We can only apologise to them. Some of them have come up to us on the picket lines and some have been pleasant and some have been rude.

"Our message to them is that we are not prepared to take a pay cut and have been forced into striking and exercising the last option available to us.

"At the end of the day, we had to send a message to the employers, and the only way was to withdraw our labour."

The strike forced the closure of only one school in Peterborough – Hampton College – and no other mainstream schools in the rest of the county.

But there was disruption to Local Link bus services, which take passengers to destinations such as Peterborough District Hospital, Queensgate shopping centre and villages around the city.

The housing options service desk in the Bayard Place customer centre was closed.

The biggest impact was on refuse collections, however, with only green recycling bins collected as normal over the two days.

Black rubbish bin and brown organic bin pick-ups resume today, with those that should have been emptied on Wednesday the first to be done.

Once they have been tipped, crews will start on those they should have got to on Thursday.

Residents who should have had collections during the strike were advised to put them out today and leave them out until they are emptied.

Those scheduled for collection today or at the beginning of next week should be put out as normal and be left for as long as necessary to be emptied.

The bulky waste collection service is not operating today, but will resume on Monday.

In Fenland, the district council was forced to close its "@ your service" shop in March on both strike days, and its Whittlesey counterpart yesterday.

Mr Gooden said national talks were planned for next week in the hope of settling the dispute.

He said: "We hope there's a meaningful offer on the table. If not, there will then be a respite until September, when we will review our position."