Haulier secures fines on miners
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THE SOUTH Wales Miners' Union was fined £50,000 in the high court on Monday over picket action against two haulage companies in defiance of an injunction.
Mr Justice Park said if the fine was not paid by Wednesday this week, the assets of the South Wales NUM, estimated at E3m, could be seized.
The judge held the union in contempt for disobeying an injunction granted to George Read Transport and Richard Read Transport, both based in the Forest of Dean.
The injunction banned the South Wales NUM from interfering with the lorries at the Port Talbot steel works.
The hauliers had sued following incidents over the last two months, including the stoning of lorries by pickets. Both companies have contracts to haul coke from Port Talbot to Avonmouth.
The judge said that he was satisfied that officials of the union had been "guilty of numerous breeches of the injunction, resulting in serious interferences and disruption to the businesses of the two companies and serious intimidation of their drivers."
Mr Justice Park said the officials of the union appeared completely indifferent to the consequences of the pickets' violent behaviour although Emlyn Williams, the area president, had apparently admitted to the fear that someone would be killed.
The NUM has indicated its refusal to pay the fines and was understood to be moving its assets abroad.
Meanwhile, a haulage company involved in moving coal between colleries, and to merchants in Nottinghamshire, suffered an arson attack last Sunday night.
J. and E. Meeks, of Mansfield operations were only halted overnight but the damage was estimated to have been between £150,000 and £200,000 on its fleet.
Robin Meeks, the company secretary told CM that the fire wrote off six 38-tonne vehicles and damaged three more. After renting some vehicles, bringing some of its own out of reserve and repairing quickly the damaged ones, normal operations were resumed "after breakfast" on Monday morning.
The company has been involved in coal transport for 25 years and Mr Meeks said that his 100 drivers (all in the Transport and General Workers Union) are "very annoyed" by the arson attack.
• The Government has drawn up contingency plans to use lorries to move coal from pit heads to power stations, if the strike continues.
It is understood that the haulage industry will be used, if necessary, to shift 16m tonnes of coal at pit heads for use at the power stations.
However, the use of the industry to provide coal for the power stations would be a major escalation in the dispute which the Government is anxious to avoid if at all possible.
• Lorry drivers who refuse to cross picket lines may find they are not entitled to unemployment benefit.
Trades union sources report that applications from drivers laid off because of their refusal to cross a miners' picket line are being witheld until the driver proves he is not in sympathy with the strike.
According to the Department of Employment, it is possible that applications may be refused if the driver has chosen not to cross a peaceful picket line.