STUDENTS at Fareham College were faced with cancelled lectures today as lecturers walked out in protest over pay.

About 100 staff were expected to stay away from the Bishopsfield college as part of a national strike over a pay dispute.

Staff manned a picket line outside the college from 7am while organisers at the college tried to keep disruption to a minimum.

A branch spokesman for teaching union Natfhe said: "Our problem is not with the college but with the national issue of pay levels. We know that if we keep falling behind schools and other commercial industries the problem of recruitment will just get worse."

Fareham is one of a number of colleges affected by the industrial action in the south as union members protest over a 2.3 per cent pay offer.