It was the first national walkout since 1926 - and it was a major showdown between the NUM and Ted Heath’s Tory Government.
The 1972 strike crippled the country across January and February as picket lines were put in place, coal supplies dwindled, and the Government declared a state of emergency.
As temperatures plunged and snow fell, the strike impacted on every aspect of our lives – even the floodlights couldn’t go on at football games without official sanction.
These pictures from our archive capture different aspects of one of the great industrial disputes of our time.
1. Miners' strike 1972
Police move in when pickets mob the driver of a lorry collecting coal from Haymarket. Photo: Alan Ledgerwood
2. Miners' strike 1972
Men filling bags of peat at Haymarket Coal depot in Edinburgh. Photo: Dick Ewart
3. Miners' strike 1972
A pickets' caravan parked outside Portobello Power Station. Photo: Ian Brand
4. Miners' strike 1972
Miners at Monktonhall colliery collect their lamps from the lamphouse on one of the first shifts after the strike ended. Photo: Bill Stout