BOLTON miners leader, Billy Kelly is among five former workers who are claiming unfair dismissal after the closure of Lancashire's last pit.

The Lancashire NUM General Secretary, of Devon Street, Farnworth, and four other former miners have accused British Coal of failing to take adequatemeasures to safeguard jobs by redeploying staff, following the closure of Parkside Colliery in 1993.

The claims that the miners were given an ultimatum to accept voluntary redundancy or face losing the package on offer were originally rejected by an industrial tribunal in 1994.

But the decision was overturned when the miners, led by Mr Kelly, took the case to appeal and it has now been referred to a new tribunal which opened this week. John Swift, representing the NUM members, told the tribunal in Liverpool that British Coal's transfer system was "hasty and haphazard".

But BC's former personnel manager George Carr said: "If they had got to pick their own colliery it would have led to industrial relations mayhem."

He said the men were told to attend an interview at the Point of Ayr Colliery in North Wales for an interview but did not turn up. They had wanted jobs in Selby and Asfordby but they were oversubscribed.

Managers at Parkside were told it would close on May 28 and had a week to "get the men off the books". They started a series of redundancy counselling meeting and men who wanted to transfer were told to see managers.

BC Assistant Personnel Manager said the five men were given their redundancy notices from Parkside after he had learned they had not attended Point of Ayr for interview.

He said he knew the men were not happy with the Welsh pit as alternative employment and he did not ask about transfers to Selby as "there was no point".

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