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In the space of seven days drivage teams at the South Yorkshire colliery working new flexi-shift patterns achieved these results:

drove 312.5m of tailgate road 3.2m high and 4.9m wide – claimed to be a new British and European record and possible world best straight in-line drivage

completed 200 manshifts with no incident of any kind

achieved 390% of their development action programme for the week

extended 900m of water, air and pump range

inserted 1,800 roof bolts and a similar number of side bolts

completed three 100-metre power move-ups

advanced a set of 30 stone dust barriers

lost only 157 minutes production time due to equipment delays in seven days

belts ran to 98% of potential

achieved 90% of total development potential and 100% of development utilisation

produced 3,125 tonnes of coal from development districts

added 170,000t, equivalent to an extra 10 weeks output, to the life of the 290m long face panel, due to come into production in spring 2005.

The 312.5m record, almost 100m better than the 221m driven by miners at Asforby in 1997, was described by colliery manager as outstanding.

Development manager, Kevin Mallender said the men at the pit wanted to have a crack at the record.

“It’s become something of a ritual in every development, so we thought we’d give it a go. There was only a small window of time when conditions were right, and we just about hit the nail on the head,” Mallender said.

Before the record run got underway, there was careful planning, team briefing and checks on the ABM 20 machines.

Having completed 1,550m in 15 weeks and 156m in one week in the same heading the team were ready to take on the record.

They completed 42.5m on day 1, a further 44m on day 2, 40.5m on day 3, followed by 56.7m, 45.3m, 45.5m and 38m on day 7.

The men in the four drivage teams have stressed the importance of team work in the achievement, backed up by good systems.

“This is the spirit we need to replicate in all our mines,” said UK Coal managing director Pat O’Brien. “If we could bottle it and spread it around, we’d have no worries about getting our replacement faces ready on time.”

Adapted from an article that appeared in UK Coal's NewScene in December 2003.