Selby area's first mining subsidence evacuees said today they had paid too high a price for coal.

Pensioners John and Winnie Lockwood have had to uproot to another village after their house was so badly damaged by tunnelling at Kellingley Colliery that it had to be demolished.

And next-door neighbours Brian and Jeanette Gallacher have now had to abandon their terraced home, which has plastic sheeting covering the damaged gable end.

RJB Mining has blamed the subsidence on an unpredictable "freak of nature", which led to abnormal movement of underground strata.

But for the evacuees, who had planned to spend the rest of their lives in Whitefield Lane, Whitley Bridge, the force of nature has been devastating.

Mr Lockwood, 73, said they really missed their friends and home where they had lived for 43 years; while Mrs Gallacher said the stress and upheaval had made her ill.

The Lockwoods are now living in a semi-detached house in Eggborough, paid for by RJB, after living for nine months in a caravan.

Mr Lockwood said: "I feel sorry for the flood victims, but at least they will be able to return to their homes.

"I was born in Whitley and we wanted our house rebuilding on the same site, but the engineers said it was too dangerous. It's all very upsetting."

Mrs Gallacher, a catering worker at Eggborough Power Station, her glassworker husband, Brian, and son Robert, ten, have now moved to a new home in Gravel Hill Lane, Whitley, after RJB bought their house in nearby Whitefield Lane.

She said: "It was a real nightmare - it was absolutely freezing with just the plastic sheeting over the gable end, and you could hear pieces of rubble falling during the night.

"We had lived in that house since we were married and were very happy there. All the stress made me ill."

Unbelievably, she said, they had been hit by a "double whammy" after discovering their latest home had also been hit by mining subsidence from nearby Kellingley Colliery.

Mrs Gallacher added: "Now we have to go through it all again after finding cracks in the ceiling of our new home and land subsiding next to our garage."

Another neighbour in Whitefield Lane, Bernard Taft, 61, said his greenhouse, shed and garage had been demolished because of mining subsidence.

RJB spokesman Stuart Oliver said: "Demolishing a house is a rare occurrence, but we have met our obligations under the various legislation and done our best to satisfy the people concerned.

"The new property that the Gallacher family chose to buy is in a mining subsidence zone, and any damage caused will be put right and paid for by RJB."