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"Due to the high volume of inquiries we are currently experiencing we are unable to take your call. Please call back later" - The script non-striking civil servants read out before hanging up on callers.

Sounds like your basic answering machine message, but this speech was made by live people. During the two-day nationwide stoppage, non-striking staff at the Department for Work and Pensions in Carlisle answered phones with this refrain... and one worker struggled to keep a straight face while imitating a machine.

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