Workers who maintain and deal with incidents on the M25 motorway are to stage a series of 24-hour strikes in a dispute over pay.

About 170 members of Unite will walk out on February 16 after talks with employer Connect Plus Services failed to resolve the row.

Further one-day strikes will be held while union members will also work to rule, which Unite said could lead to delays in clearing accidents, gritting and repairing the motorway.

Unite said workers were being employed on a variety of contracts, leaving some on inferior terms such as no entitlement to sick pay for the first three days of ill health.

Unite officer Malcolm Bonnett said: "This is a lucrative 25-year contract to maintain the M25 which will make Connect Plus Services £7 million operating surplus each year.

"There is plenty of room in it for the company to pocket healthy profits while paying decent wages and harmonising the workers' terms.

"These workers are out in all weathers, working long hours - sometimes as long as 50-plus hours a week - in extremely hazardous conditions facing fast-moving traffic.

"These are the workers who have to clear up after accidents, which is extremely distressing work.

"By any measure they deserve a fair wage, which is all they are asking for, paid for from company profits, not pinched from the wage packets of the workers."

The workers have voted heavily in favour of industrial action.