(15 Mar 2014, 5:16 pm)fozzovmurton wrote A lot of us will know it is the 30th anniversary of the 1984-85 Miners Strike, the longest dispute in history and shaped the area we see today.
I was wondering if anybody knows which bus companies were used to carry strike breakers, were Northern, United and then Busways used for miners* transport to work or was it just small independents contracted to do it, did many buses get wrecked in rioting and what damage was done to companies reputations for carrying working miners*
I was only 22 months old when it started, so have never had any recollection of it, do many others here remember the strike???
How old were you when it happened, was your father/uncle/granddad or brother miners, if so, did they tough the year out or go back to work before the end.
What was life like, from what I have been told and learnt is that brought a lot of poverty, nobody had a pot to piss in, and most are still seeing the effects financially to this day.
What was your families support for Scargill like and did they hate Mrs T as much
my great-nana once said to me 'I dont condone terrorism, but I wish the IRA had blew her up in Brighton in '84, bloody mickey mouse terrorists'
So over to you guys with your memories
#minersstrike30
#minersstrikememories
*I refuse to use the 'S' word to describe people who went back to work, it is a horrible word and although some probably deserve to be called it, to me it is just as bad as branding someone a rapist or paedophile...Am absolute horrible word that should not be messed with or thrown about
I can remember Northern having miners contracts, but as the strike was pre 86, I imagine a lot of the National companies had them too, alongside some smaller independents.
The vehicles were modified, with metal chicken wire type stuff, put over windows.
I had family members who worked down the pits and there were families in our street who were affected too.
There were all sorts of trumped up charges put against them, based on police lies.
However, a few years ago I worked alongside an older fella who was a motorbike cop during the strike. We had some interesting chats, but one he told me, involved him being dragged off his bike and given a good hiding near Monkwearmouth pit - he knew his attackers weren't miners, but his colleagues dished out revenge to the picketer's...
I know of one family, that still have divisions caused by the strike.
One side stayed loyal to the unions, whilst another side moved and found pit work in the East Midlands.
When the papers are released over the next few years, I believe (coupled with other emerging stories of police/state lies), that it will turn into the next big 'claim'.
We have already had the industrial diseases and PPI claims...