DRIVERS using the M25 could face “highway to hell” journeys this spring as maintenance and emergency response workers prepare to vote on pay strikes, Unite warned today. 

If successful, the ballot — open to staff employed by joint venture company Connect Plus Services — could see an increase in “prolonged traffic jams” on the key motorway, which orbits London, the union said. 

The vote, which runs between Monday and March 31, comes after the more than 150 employees rejected a wage offer of 5.3 per cent — less than half 40-year-high double-digit inflation.