The death of Baroness Thatcher will not be mourned by the ex-miners of Scotland, a coal industry veteran said today.

John Kane was a miner for 37 years before being made redundant in 1989 with the closure of the Bilston Glen pit in Midlothian.

Many workers hold Lady Thatcher, then leader of the Tory government, responsible for the shutdown of the industry and the ensuing collapse of dependent communities as much today as they did then.

"I'm not the type of person that says anything against the dead but I don't give two hoots about Thatcher," said Mr Kane, 75, a guide at Scotland's National Mining Museum.

"If you went into a miners' club just now, the main cry would be 'the witch is dead'.

"Nobody has forgotten."

Grandfather Mr Kane, from Penicuik, began his mining career at the Whitehill colliery in 1952 aged 15 and went on to work at Bilston Glen and the Lady Victoria colliery.

The latter, opened in 1895 as Scotland's first "super-pit", ceased production in 1981 and is now home to the National Mining Museum Scotland.