UK Coal to face charges over earlier death at Kellingley pit

THE firm which runs the Yorkshire pit where a miner died earlier this week will appear in court tomorrow in relation to the death of another worker at the same colliery, it emerged today.

UK Coal will appear at Pontefract Magistrates Court tomorrow to answer allegations of health and safety breaches relating to the death of miner Ian Cameron at Kellingley Colliery.

Mr Cameron, 46, died when equipment fell on him at the pit in October 2009.

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Earlier this week, Gerry Gibson, 49, died at Kellingley after a roof fall.

Mr Gibson’s death was the third death in three years at the colliery.

Miner Don Cook died in September 2008 in a rock fall.

This week’s incident came just a few weeks after the flooding of the Gleision Colliery in South Wales, which claimed the lives of four miners.

Today, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) confirmed UK Coal is due to appear in court alongside mining equipment firm Joy Mining Machinery Limited.

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UK Coal is charged with a breach of Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

Worcester-based Joy Mining Machinery Limited is charged with breaching Section 6(1)(d) of the same Act.

In a separate prosecution, UK Coal is due to be sentenced in October for breaching health and safety regulations in cases relating to the deaths of four miners at pits in the Midlands.

The firm has admitted safety breaches in relation to the deaths of Trevor Steeples, 46, at the Daw Mill colliery, near Coventry, in June 2006; Paul Hunt, who died in August 2006 following another accident at Daw Mill; Anthony Garrigan, who died in January 2007, again at Daw Mill; and Paul Milner, who was fatally injured at Welbeck Colliery, near Mansfield, Notts, in November 2007.

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Meanwhile, tributes have been paid to married father-of-two Mr Gibson, who died in a roof collapse on Tuesday evening.

He was described as a highly-skilled and well-respected coalface worker by his employers.

His friend Phil Sheldon was trapped next to him but he was pulled out with only minor injuries.

UK Coal have said initial investigations showed no obvious cause of the roof fall and the firm was, at this stage, “at a loss” to know why it happened.

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Kellingley, which is on the border of North and West Yorkshire, is the largest remaining deep mine in Yorkshire.

Its two main shafts are almost 800 metres deep.

It supplies local power stations and produces some household coal.

The Selby and Ainsty MP Nigel Adams said: “Very sadly, this is the third death we’ve had here at Kellingley. Three deaths in three years, is three too many. We must find some answers.

“Coming on the back of the Welsh tragedy it clearly resonates with people how dangerous an industry mining is.”

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