Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner (that BT wages get me down)

More than 120 workers gathered outside BT's HQ yesterday lunchtime to campaign for an increase in their London Weighting Allowance.

The placard-waving crowd included two demonstrators dressed as highwaymen.

One demonstrator described BT's refusal to increase London Weighting - an allowance first introduced 30 years ago to compensate staff for the extra cost of working in the capital - as "daylight robbery". [hence the highwaymen outfits, geddit? Ed]

Yesterday's action was organised by the Communication Workers Union (CWU), which claims that London Weighting for BT staff has stood still at a time when the cost of living and working in London has increased massively - making the capital Europe's most expensive city.

One of the flyers handed out by those taking part in yesterday's action reads: "You don't have to be Einstein to work out that it costs more to live in London than the rest of the UK.

"Because it is more expensive to live in the capital, BT's London workers are the poorest in the UK on their grade. Despite this, BT refuses to acknowledge that London is an expensive place to live." ®