HUNDREDS of thousands of public sector workers across Scotland walked out over proposed changes to their pensions.

More than 300,000 people are believed to have gone on strike north of the Border, joining two million nationwide, making it the largest-scale day of industrial action in decades.

Union leaders hailed the mass walkout as the biggest strike since the 1920s with public services brought to a virtual standstill.

As well as tens of thousands of health workers and civil servants who took part in the action, 180,500 council employees stayed away from work.

A total of 14 unions in Scotland joined the walkout and the effects were far-reaching, with all local authorities reporting severe disruption to everyday business.

Around 99% of schools shut to pupils, and hospitals were left running largely on a Sunday service. Up to 2000 elective operations were cancelled with some 18,500 appointments rearranged.

A number of court cases were also suspended following the walkout of procurator-fiscals and court administrators.

No weddings or civil partnerships were held in council-run registries with some public transport halted by the action.

In Glasgow, police estimated 5000 people turned up to demonstrate in the city. Organisers said the figure was double that.

The number of those who took part in the demonstration was far eclipsed by the number of strikers, with more than 15,300 council employees not turning up for work yesterday at Scotland's largest local authority.

Meanwhile, the city's Subway system was brought to a complete halt as workers headed to the picket lines.

In Edinburgh, up to 10,000 protesters marched from the Royal Mile to Holyrood, the biggest rally since devolution, with a number of picket lines set up in the capital from Edinburgh Castle, to the sheriff court and the main hospital. The council-run museums and galleries as well as the National Museum of Scotland were all closed.

Grahame Smith, general secretary of the Scottish Trades Union Congress, addressed the gathering outside the Scottish Parliament, describing the day as historic. He said: "This is a historic day, the biggest strike since the 1920s, with more women on strike than at any time in the history of the trade union movement.

"If the Government don't recognise our determination to resist this then they've got their heads in the sand."

He cited his mother's £3000 annual pension compared with the £13,000 a week received by former banker Fred Goodwin, adding: "Gold-plated pensions? Don't make me laugh."

Among the crowd was A&E staff nurse Sharon Edgar, 37, from Rosyth in Fife, who works at St John's Hospital in Livingston, West Lothian. She took her eight-year-old daughter Bea on the rally.

Ms Edgar said: "My little girl wants to be a nurse too. If we don't stand up now, what kind of deal will she get?"

While there was some criticism of the decision by MSPs other than Labour and Green members to continue meeting at the adjacent Parliament building, most of the venom was reserved for the Chancellor, George Osborne, and above all his deputy, the Liberal Democrat Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, whose name was booed at every opportunity.

Former Unison leader Rodney Bickerstaffe, who has also served as president of the National Pensioners' Convention, was cheered when he said of Danny Alexander: "What a prat that man is, and what a traitor too. Will we let them walk all over us? No, we bloody well won't."

Demonstrators in Inverness, some wearing masks of Mr Alexander, walked past his constituency office calling for his resignation.

The Highlands and Islands felt mass disruption, with none of the Shetland Council-run ferries providing services.

In Aberdeen, five members of the Coastguard Service took strike action, with management stepping in to cover duties. Around 92% of staff at the HMRC office in the city went on strike, with further pickets at the sheriff court and council headquarters, while in Dundee, thousands took part in a rally at City Square.

Dave Watson, organiser for Unison, said the number of workers demonstrating had outstripped expectations.

He said: "The march in Glasgow had five times more people than we thought. It was meant to be a short march but people wanted to do something after the picket and headed down. We had 10,000 people there and the STUC had booked a space for 2000."