Hundreds of university graduates have had their graduation ceremony postponed because of a strike by council workers.

Final-year students at De Montfort University in Leicester had been scheduled to graduate at on Wednesday of next week.

But the date clashes with a 24-hour walkout by public sector workers over pay and conditions.

As a result, the graduation venue De Montfort Hall - which is run by Leicester City Council - is being closed because of staff shortages.

The university was expecting more than 700 students, together with family and friends, to attend the graduation ceremony.

Contingency plan

Students are now being given the choice to attend a delayed ceremony on Friday 19 July or others later in the year.

De Montfort University Pro-Vice Chancellor, Professor John Coyne, said: "We are very upset for all the students, and their who were set to attend and had made arrangements to collect their awards next Wednesday."

"Like most universities we rely on external venues for hosting this kind of event and while we have been working with Leicester City Council to try and find a way to keep the building open we needed absolute certainty that it would be open," said Professor Coyne.

"While we were in discussions we really had reached the point where we needed time to get in touch with people and help them make alternative arrangements and so we decided to implement the alternative plans we had been preparing in case of this event."

A telephone number has been set up for people with enquiries: 08459 45 46 47.