Yorkshire & Lincolnshire

Many people believe the use of the police in the Miners' Strike was decisive in settling the outcome in favour of the government.

The strike was a watershed moment in British industrial history that led to the near destruction of one of Yorkshire's biggest industries.

Margaret Thatcher was determined not to join the list of Tory Prime Ministers humbled by striking miners.

Pit closures

Early in 1984 the National Coal Board announced 20 pits would close and 20,000 jobs would go.

Scenes at Orgreave in 1984

Miners walked out in protest across the country and on March 12 National Union of Miners (NUM) President Arthur Scargill announced a national strike.

Local police forces found themselves overwhelmed by the demands of the picket lines.

Thousands of officers were drafted in as reinforcements from all over the country.

Policing the strike

The then Chief Constable of the Humberside force, David Hall, found himself in charge of coordinating the national operation to police the strike.

At the time there were suggestions that Downing Street was behind much of the police activity… something which David Hall denied.

"Many suggestions have been made and they're entirely without foundation.

"The police force of this country is in no way politically controlled. If the day comes that it is, it would be a sorry day for this country."

But, under the Freedom of Information Act, Inside Out obtained internal Home Office documents from 1984 which relate to the miners' strike.

'Insufficient evidence'

One of them refers to police efforts to prosecute miners' leader Arthur Scargill.

Efforts to prosecute Arthur Scargill.

And even though it concludes there's insufficient evidence to charge him with any offence, it reveals the then, and now late, Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Peter Wright had "detailed a chief superintendent to keep and an eye on Mr Scargill's activities in order continually to assess the available information with a view to possible prosecution".

Twenty five years on Inside Out showed this information to David Hall who is mentioned in the memo as being aware of the "sensitivity of it".

The document refers to plans for future discussions between Mr Hall and fellow chief constables.

Mr Hall said, "I can assure you there was no conspiracy on the part of the police service to as you might say 'nail Scargill'.

"That's not the case. It was just a normal proceedure to keep an eye on somebody who they thought might have been the cause of the disorder."

Sense of injustice

Dave Douglass was a firebrand NUM offcial.

His anger and sense of injustice haven't dimmed with the passage of time.

"Well, I think it makes you very angry because they weren't trying to prosecute Arthur Scargill for something he had done, but trying to find something to prosecute him for.

"They were fishing about looking for something so they could take him out of the picture."