Yeovil is set to get its fair share of nationwide and regional strikes next week.

Those planning to have benefit claims processed, or take a train trip with South West Trains needn't bother on Monday and Tuesday as industrial actions have been called.

Just before Christmas, about 100 members of the Public and Commercial Services Union, mainly employed at the Hendford benefits offices, went on strike for two days.

The issue was government plans not to feature safety screens in Job Centre Plus offices, which are combined job centres and benefit offices created after a two-year trial in selected locations.

The union say that more than 5,000 staff in benefits offices were threatened or assaulted at work in 2000 - a figure that would have been much higher if it hadn't been for the protective screens.

Back in December, a government spokesman said that screens would not be removed in Yeovil, mainly because the town's Job Centre Plus facility would continue to operate from two separate locations (Hendford and The Park).

The spokesman added that it was impossible to establish a rapport with Job Centre Plus clients if there was a screen separating people, although the need to process some cases in screened area would always remain.

On a national level, however, the dispute is ongoing. The PCS has announced a two-day strike (Monday and Tuesday) and used an incident in a non-screen Job Centre Plus office as an example of the point they are trying to prove.

According to a national newspaper, a 33-year-old man was arrested by police in Harlesden after having gone berserk and smashed up the Job Centre Plus office there with a metal bar.

Nobody was physically injured but the PCS says the lack of safety screens put their members at increased risk of injury.

* The dispute between South West Trains and the RMT union has been well documented. Services have already been severely disrupted by a series of strikes this year, and another one has been called for Monday and Tuesday.

South West Trains, who operate of the Exeter-Waterloo Line trough Yeovil Junction, have previously laid on buses for some routes.

Those wishing information about such services should call 0845 7484950.