THE remnants of Britain's once mighty coal industry were dealt another massive blow yesterday with confirmation that the country's biggest mine complex is to close with the loss of thousands of jobs.

UK Coal said there was no prospect of the Selby complex in North Yorkshire becoming viable after suffering losses of £107m over the past three and a half years.

The Government moved to soften the blow by setting up a task force to regenerate the area and giving £10m towards a redundancy package.

Miners will receive up to £27,000 each, but many said they would rather have a job after spending the past few years moving from pit to pit because of closures.

The three collieries that make up the Selby complex - Wistow, Stillingfleet and Riccall - will cease production by the spring of 2004.

UK Coal blamed deteriorating geological conditions as well as the continuing financial losses for the decision and warned the pits could close earlier if production slips.

There will be fewer than 10,000 miners left in the UK at just 11 deep mines when Selby closes. As well as the 2,100 miners, another 3,000 indirect workers will be hit and there will be a huge knock-on effect on local companies.

About 300 miners will leave this year, there will be 500 redundancies next year, and most of the remainder will leave in the first half of 2004.

NUM branch secretary at Wistow Mine, Ken Rowley, said: "We need breathing space to get through faulting and develop new reserves, but we have been sacrificed on the altar of short-termism."

North Yorkshire County Council leader John Weighell said: "A special task force is the only sensible way to tackle the situation. All the relevant organisations at a local, regional and national level should be working together.