More than 300 scaffolders working at the Hinkley Point site are now planning a day a week on unofficial strike action after downing tools on Wednesday.

The scaffolders working for BYLOR are understood to be angry about pay rates and shift patterns on the site.

One told the Enquirer: “Things have been bubbling for a while. We have been wanting the mechanical rate, our travel pay is way below what the MEH Alliance get.

“This week we just made stand, it’s not a happy camp here.”

The latest workers’ unrest follows a walk-out last week by around 125 mechanical and electrical workers under the MEH Alliance at the site.

The unofficial walkout was triggered by employers’ decision to cut travel allowances by 50%.

Since then it is understood that the MEH Alliance contractors – Altrad, Balfour Beatty Bailey, Cavendish Nuclear and Doosan Babcock – have agreed to restore travel allowances.