Great British Railway Journeys: Michael Portillo discusses memorial Michael Portillo reflected on a mining tragedy on as he travelled between Wakefield and Leeds on his BBC show Great British Railway Journeys. He visited the National Coalmining Museum for England whch is based at the Taphouse Collery just outside Wakefield. As he got a history of UK mining from miner turned museum guide Trevor Chalkley, he was reminded of the dreadful tragedy which happened in nearby Lofthouse in 1973.
Lofthouse, located just 24 miles from Sheffield, is a tiny town which only had a population of 4,181 in the 2021 census. Only one body was ever recovered from the devasting incident which cost seven men their lives. Trevor had been a trainee at Lofthouse when it occured and said: "That was a disaster which should never have happened.
"The problem, what we had with Lofthouse is that prior to nationalisation [of the mines], you had individual people working in the mines, or owning the mines. READ MORE: Helen Skelton issues poignant Morning Live update after taking lengthy break [LATEST] Michael Portillo reflected on the 1973 mining tragedy in Lofthouse (Image: BBC) "If you started to get into a good areas the'd keep going but it would be unchartered. And what we had at Lofthouse was they.
..hit some unchartered working, and obviously those [areas] were actually full of gas and dust, and in particular, water.
" Continuing to explain what happened he said the water rushed in and they lost seven lives.