THE family of a miner who worked down the pit for 50 years has received a posthumous compensation payment - of only £261.

Stanley Price's daughter, Dorothy, who has fought a ten-year legal battle on her father's behalf, described the payment as an "insult to my father's memory".

Mr Price, who died in March 2001, spent the last 15 years of his life as a prisoner in his home because of crippling chest problems, with frequent spells in hospital.

His death certificate recorded exposure to coal dust as the major cause of the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease from which he suffered.

But because of a loophole in the law, introduced by the Government in the late 1990s, his compensation award is a paltry one.

Mr Price, who lived in Lumley Avenue, South Shields, worked on the coal face between 1927 and 1965 at St Hilda's Colliery and Whitburn and Westoe collieries.

Under the change in the law, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) - which is responsible for compensation payments made against British Coal - only recognises claims made after June 1954.

It means the damage caused to Mr Price by almost 30 years down the pit goes unrecognised.

Miss Price, 56, of South Dene, South Shields, said: "This final payout is an insult, to say the least."

Naveen Sandhu, of George Mills solicitors, in Washington, Wearside, which represented Mr Price, said the change in law led to the payouts being no more than a token gesture.

He said: "I fully understand this lady's frustrations at the size of the award.

"The awards rarely reflect the damage the employment causes."