Talks to avert security van strike to take place today

Unions representing cash-in-transit security staff are due to meet employers in the industry today in an effort to avert planned strike action.

The workers are planning to down tools on Friday as part of a protest over the threat to their safety from criminal gangs.

The stoppage was prompted by a spate of robberies on security vans in the last two years, including two recent raids in which one staff member was shot and another had his family abducted and held hostage.