Four coachloads of people from Bath will join a national protest over public sector spending cuts in London on Saturday.

Tens of thousands of demonstrators are expected to take part in the March for the Alternative event organised by the TUC, with more coaches travelling from Keynsham and Bristol.

Among those heading for the capital will be student Sarah Kean-Price, 27, a final year student in philosophy, ethics and cultural studies at Bath Spa University.

She said: "I'm just not convinced that there is no alternative to what the Government is doing. I'm healthy and I'm reasonably affluent so, personally, the cuts are not going to change my life much.

"But this isn't about me; I'm really concerned about the NHS and about what's happening to public services."

She said she was dubious about the Government's Big Society idea.

"I believe in volunteering – I volunteer myself – but you can't cut back so much and expect people to pick up the slack."

Meanwhile, lecturers at Bath's two universities and City of Bath were beginning a second day of strike action today.

Members of the University and College Union are taking the action in protest at changes to the Universities Superannuation Scheme pension fund. Another strike took place on Tuesday over the changes, which would increase staff contributions and the pension age.

UCU Bath Spa committee member, Chris Jury, said: "The employers are refusing to negotiate with us about pay, job cuts and pensions.

"Their intransigence has brought about this dispute at a time when they should be joining with us in fighting cuts to one of the oldest and most prestigious higher education systems in the world."

Employers Pensions Forum chairman, Professor Brian Cantor said: "An enormous amount of work has gone into the development of this package of reforms."

He said the changes were approved by bodies which involved full UCU representation.