CUSTOMS and immigration officers employed by the UK Border Agency are expected to join civil servants in a 48-hour-strike starting today.

Border controls across the south, including the Channel Tunnel, the Port of Dover, Ramsgate and all major airports will be affected as members of the Public and Commercial Services Union stage the two-day walkout unless a settlement is reached over cuts to redundancy pay.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: "With civil service jobs increasingly at risk this is a cynical attempt to cut jobs on the cheap which will damage the public services we rely on."