OXFORDSHIRE’S economy took an estimated hit of £5m yesterday as public sector strikers closed schools, shut council services, and caused hospital appointments to be cancelled.

Across the county, 211 out of 291 schools were either fully or partially closed, with parents having to take time off work to look after their children or finding alternative childcare.

UNISON, one of the unions striking, said only three dustcarts left Cowley Marsh depot yesterday, collecting trade waste only, while ambulance staff only responded to emergency calls.

Prime Minister David Cameron labelled the strikes “a damp squib”, although an estimated 6,000 people attended a rally in Oxford’s Broad Street as the culmination of three marches through the city.

Union leaders estimated 15,000 people across the county had joined the strike over changes to public sector pensions which will force workers to pay more in, work for longer, but get a reduced pension at the end.

Oxford and District Trades Council president Gawain Little told marchers: “This is the most amazing display of strength and solidarity this county has ever seen.

“And believe me we need it, because we are in the fight of our lives.”

He told the Oxford Mail that more industrial action could follow unless the Government changes its policies on pensions.

Mr Little, a teacher at St Ebbe’s Primary School, said: “It will entirely depend on the way the Government behaves.

“There is a clear majority of people supporting our actions, and if the Government is willing to listen to them this could be ended.

“Otherwise I really could not predict what could happen.

“It will depend on the democratic discussions within the unions involved.”

Mike Farwell, of James Cowper accountants in Botley, estimated yesterday’s strikes would have cost the county’s economy £5m, much of it caused by private sector workers taking time off to look after their children.

He said: “There will have been some loss of productivity in the public sector, but the bigger impact is on the private sector, and people who have children and have struggled over what to do with them.”

Public sector workers were given a fresh blow on Tuesday when Chancellor George Osborne announced they would only receive a one per cent pay rise in 2014 and 2015.

He also announced that wage settlements would now be negotiated regionally, not nationally.

Cowley-based Police Community Support Officer Jim Katouzian, who was on the St Aldate’s Police Station picket line yesterday morning, said: “There is more upset than anger.

“Pay has been frozen since 2010, and now George Osborne has announced that pay will only go up one per cent in 2014 at a time where inflation is at five per cent.

“Combined with the changes to pensions, it amounts to a very severe impact on people’s pay.

“There is a limit to how much people can stand before they protest.”

And at Oxford City Council, UNISON organiser Caroline Glendinning described Mr Osborne’s pay announcement as “an absolute insult”.

She said: “We have already got public support, and we will get more support as this goes on.”

At the John Radcliffe Hospital, electrician and UNITE organiser Jimmy Nichol said: “When you get the likes of the radiographers and physiotherapists on strike, it shows how much of a burning issue this is.

“Unless Ministers actually sit round the table and discuss this sensibly, this will only be the start of things to come.”

David Cameron told MPs at Prime Minister’s Questions that pension reform was “absolutely essential.”

The Witney MP said: “Despite the disappointment of the party opposite, that support irresponsible and damaging strikes, it looks like something of a damp squib.”