Mexborough and Swinton Times August 14, 1915

Interfering With Points
Denaby Pony Driver Smartly Fined

For an alleged breach of the Mines Act in the Denaby Main Colliery on 19 July, George H Jones (17) pony driver, Denaby, was fined £2 or in the alternative 14 days.

Mr Frank Allen prosecuted and said that that was a charge of endangering lives in the coal mine. There had been a lot of trouble in one of the districts through interference with the points of the main haulage, and at a certain junction where the points have been interfered with many tubs have been derailed.  That happened so frequently that a watch was set, and a deputy named Millington, concealed in the engine, saw the defendant interfere with the points and cross them so that the tubs would be turned off on the side road.

Defendant admitted  to interfering with the points, but he said he put them back again. He wanted “to see how they worked.”

Mr H W , the manager, said there had been many tubs derailed at that junction. During the last fortnight there were 50 tubs accumulated there, and an action such as moving of the points might have endangered the whole of the district. It was one of the most serious things that could have been done. It was, he said, as dangerous as turning the points on the main railway line.

The Chairman said the Bench took a very serious view of the case. A boy the age of defendant ought to know better than that. It was quite time they made an example. He was very lucky to escape being sent to prison

He was fined as stated.