Militants in the NUM nicknamed NACODS the "National Association of Can-carriers, Obedient Dopes and Suckers".

[3] The National Coal Board had decided in the 1972 strike that a NACODS member was entitled to stay off work without any loss of pay if he faced violence or aggressive intimidation from NUM pickets.

[4] When the number of NUM strikebreakers increased in August, Merrick Spanton, the NCB personnel director, stated that he expected NACODS members to cross the picket lines to supervise their work.

[4] As this would have meant crossing aggressive (and sometimes violent) lines, it brought another ballot for a national strike from NACODS.

[5] However, a deal negotiated by North Yorkshire NCB Director Michael Eaton persuaded NACODS leaders to call off the strike action in return to changes to the review procedures for threatened collieries.