LECTURERS at colleges across East Lancashire started two days of strike action today over pay.

Members of the largest lecturers' union NATFHE, staged walk-outs over a 1.5 per cent offer.

Staff at Blackburn College will stop work tomorrow for 24 hours, but lecturers at Accrington and Rossendale, Burnley and Nelson and Colne colleges were due to strike for two days.

John Easton, who heads the Blackburn College NATFHE branch, said today a mix-up which delayed the college's participation in a national ballot meant his members were only able to strike for a day because of a legal deadline.

He added: "It is not our intention to disrupt any of our students. We are aiming to hit the administration of the college."

Independent invigilators will run AS and GCSE examinations."