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You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/dec/18/kellingley-colliery-coal-miners-finish-final-shift
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| And now the game's over: Kellingley miners finish final shift | And now the game's over: Kellingley miners finish final shift |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| The lobby of the Kellingley colliery was thick with cameras as the final shift at the country’s last deep coalmine came to an end. | The lobby of the Kellingley colliery was thick with cameras as the final shift at the country’s last deep coalmine came to an end. |
| A man in high-vis orange walked through, his trousers cut down to shorts, a few inches of coal-dusted thigh showing over the thickest boots; goggled, gloved, protected and unprotected. | A man in high-vis orange walked through, his trousers cut down to shorts, a few inches of coal-dusted thigh showing over the thickest boots; goggled, gloved, protected and unprotected. |
| Related: Kellingley colliery closure: 'shabby end' for a once-mighty industry | Related: Kellingley colliery closure: 'shabby end' for a once-mighty industry |
| Mining is an industry full of contradictions – it’s dangerous, arduous work but people love it. The majority started straight from school and never left. Nobody’s parents wanted them to go down a mine, yet that is how so many spent their own lives. | Mining is an industry full of contradictions – it’s dangerous, arduous work but people love it. The majority started straight from school and never left. Nobody’s parents wanted them to go down a mine, yet that is how so many spent their own lives. |
| “When they come out,” said Keith Poulson, the 55-year-old National Union of Mineworkers representative, “what they’ll be wanting to do is shake each other’s hands, because they might never see each other again.” | “When they come out,” said Keith Poulson, the 55-year-old National Union of Mineworkers representative, “what they’ll be wanting to do is shake each other’s hands, because they might never see each other again.” |
| While many of the 450 miners live in Pontefract, West Yorkshire, there are men from as far as Durham and Wales. “They did what Norman Tebbit told them to do,” Poulson added, “They got on their bike. They followed the industry from closure of pit to closure of pit. And this industry has just thrown them on the scrapheap.” | While many of the 450 miners live in Pontefract, West Yorkshire, there are men from as far as Durham and Wales. “They did what Norman Tebbit told them to do,” Poulson added, “They got on their bike. They followed the industry from closure of pit to closure of pit. And this industry has just thrown them on the scrapheap.” |
| In 2013, the decision was made to close the Kellingley colliery; Yvette Cooper, though hers is the neighbouring constituency, described a series of attempts to save it, including finding investors, a workforce buyout and applying for EU state aid. | In 2013, the decision was made to close the Kellingley colliery; Yvette Cooper, though hers is the neighbouring constituency, described a series of attempts to save it, including finding investors, a workforce buyout and applying for EU state aid. |
| “It would have been very easy,” Cooper said, “for the miners to walk away two years ago and the government would have been left with the closure costs.” But they didn’t. Instead, they worked to fund the closure and found themselves with a meaner redundancy package than they would have got under Margaret Thatcher. She boosted the statutory amount (12 weeks of average pay) with a £900 per working year deal that has been rescinded, and the pension deal has been eroded too. | “It would have been very easy,” Cooper said, “for the miners to walk away two years ago and the government would have been left with the closure costs.” But they didn’t. Instead, they worked to fund the closure and found themselves with a meaner redundancy package than they would have got under Margaret Thatcher. She boosted the statutory amount (12 weeks of average pay) with a £900 per working year deal that has been rescinded, and the pension deal has been eroded too. |
| Related: The Guardian view on the end of deep mining: adieu to the aristocracy of the working class | Editorial | Related: The Guardian view on the end of deep mining: adieu to the aristocracy of the working class | Editorial |
| “It doesn’t feel like we’re finishing,” said John Gray, 41. “It feels like we’re breaking up for Christmas. We’ve been coaling as usual.” | “It doesn’t feel like we’re finishing,” said John Gray, 41. “It feels like we’re breaking up for Christmas. We’ve been coaling as usual.” |
| His colleague and friend Andrew Webb, 50, said: “It’s the end of an era, and the beginning of an error.” Webb started mining in Kent before moving to Stillingfleet, North Yorkshire, which closed in 2004, and ending up here. “I’m the last Kentish miner,” he added, wryly. | His colleague and friend Andrew Webb, 50, said: “It’s the end of an era, and the beginning of an error.” Webb started mining in Kent before moving to Stillingfleet, North Yorkshire, which closed in 2004, and ending up here. “I’m the last Kentish miner,” he added, wryly. |
| If you believe in keeping fossil fuels in the ground, you should be pleased, in theory. Except that the power plant at Drax in nearby Selby will continue to burn coal, about 4m tons a year, which it has imported from America and Colombia. | |
| “If we got the subsidies that nuclear power gets,” Poulson said, “we could afford to mine this field, give it away free and still make a profit. Is that a level playing field?” | “If we got the subsidies that nuclear power gets,” Poulson said, “we could afford to mine this field, give it away free and still make a profit. Is that a level playing field?” |
| Not really, from any angle, and now the game’s over. | Not really, from any angle, and now the game’s over. |