HUNDREDS of workers at the Driver & Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) have launched fresh industrial action in a long-running dispute over Covid-related safety.

PCS union members at the DVLA site in Swansea went on strike today and will be on the picket line until Saturday.

The union warned it is entering a new phase of sustained and targeted industrial unrest for months to come.

The latest strike is the third time that staff have walked out over demands for more safety measures.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said a deal had all but been agreed to end the dispute.

He said: “Through painstaking negotiation, our union and DVLA senior management were on the verge of agreeing a deal, only for it to be scuppered at the last minute.

“We strongly suspect senior ministers at the Department for Transport have interfered with the progress we were making and want to make some kind of ideological stand against PCS.

“They have grossly underestimated the resolve of our members in DVLA and have only emboldened them to take targeted and sustained action in the months ahead until they win.

“PCS is fully prepared for months of strike action, and we urge the government to rethink its position.”

The DVLA insists it has done everything possible to keep workers safe and has followed official guidelines.

A DVLA spokesman said: “Millions of people right across the UK are relying on essential DVLA services and PCS’s demands will cause significant and unnecessary disruption to families and businesses, all at a time when they are most needed.”