Pike River families block off access road to mine

Families of the 29 men killed in the Pike River mining tragedy are standing their ground as they protest against a bid to seal off the mine permanently.

Spokesman for the families, Bernie Monk, said this morning they had blocked off the access road to the mine in response to Solid Energy's own attempts to keep families out.

"Overnight, we've erected a gate and we'll be manning that and we're going to treat Solid Energy the way that they've treated us over the last coming up six years,'' Monk told Newstalk ZB this morning.

"They've padlocked it - even in the last month, we've been up there 30 days now demonstrating.

"They've got it padlocked, the first gate, and wouldn't let us through. And we're going to do the same to them."

Police have visited the site this morning and said they currently had no concerns.

"However, should any issue arise, police will deal with it as appropriate at the time,'' a police spokeswoman said.

The owner of the property was on board with the group's demonstration and had given them his full support.

"We've been given this piece of ground now until this is sorted out. So [Solid Energy will] be trespassing on our property if they go across the line.''

Monk said he and other representatives of the families would be going to Wellington tomorrow, in a bid to get their message across to Government.

"I'll be flying up tonight along with four other members of the families. We're going to be standing on the steps of Parliament.

"We're wanting an audience with the Prime Minister, if we can get one. We're going to present a plan to the Prime Minister that our experts have put in place over this short time and I just admire them so much - they've gone out of their way to do this.

"I also would like to take the opportunity of asking people if they can be on the steps of Parliament at 12 o'clock tomorrow.''