Judge pares fine over deaths after hearing about UK Coal’s dire finances
The UK Daily Record reports a judge hearing how four miners died following safety breaches in 2006 and 2007 at Britain's biggest mining firm – UK Coal – has indicated he will not impose fines at a level which would "cripple" a company which in court was described as being in a "pretty desperate situation".
UK Coal is a shadow of its former self – in May 2008 it was trading at £5.84 while on Thursday in London trade the company exchanged hands for 34p giving it a market capitalization of not much more than £100 million.