THOUSANDS of miners and their families are being invited by The Northern Echo to join a rallying cry for justice - before it is too late.

So far, 111,560 miners and widows have applied for compensation for lung diseases, which the Government promised 16 months ago.

Yet, to date, only one of those men, who believe they have been crippled by coal dust, has received the money he is due for his affliction.

And, as the clock ticks on, hundreds of those ageing ex-miners are dying before they see justice done.

Now The Northern Echo has joined forces with Easington District Council to call a public meeting which will highlight the suffering which this waiting is causing.

At the same time, the meeting will give ill miners and grieving families a chance to get expert advice.

The idea for a meeting has been prompted by the bereaved daughter of a County Durham miner. Pat Daglish's father, Thomas, died recently from pneumonia, related to his chronic lung disease, before his claim was settled.

Ms Daglish has vowed to keep fighting for justice for her father, who required 24-hours-a-day care before he passed away last December.

She said: "The pits killed my dad and killed his enjoyment of life. What is happening now is absolutely pathetic.

"If we can get everyone together, it will not bring people like my dad back, but we will have a single voice and make more people listen."

The idea is supported by Ms Daglish's solicitor, Philip Thompson, who is finding it increasingly difficult to explain the delays to his clients.

"We are running out of things to say to people - increasingly I am dealing with widows," he said.

Energy Minister Helen Liddell apologised yesterday to those miners still waiting for compensation and repeated assurances that the Government aimed to settle all claims within three years.

Processing the claims, which could eventually be worth £4bn, is one of the biggest tasks of its kind ever undertaken.

Only 19 out of 20,000 claimants in the North-East have received full medicals.

Mrs Liddell told The Northern Echo last night: "This Government will honour the nation's debt to the miners - the price they and their families have paid is too high.

"I come from a mining family and represent a former mining constituency, so this slow progress angers and frustrates me."

There has been widespread support for The Northern Echo's public meeting, full details of which will be published in The Northern Echo in the coming days. The leader of Easington District Council, Councillor Alan Napier, said the authority would provide a venue for the meeting.

"We have a lot of ex-miners in East Durham, and we will do anything we can to quicken the compensation process to help sufferers and their families," he said.

Roger Maddocks, a partner with Thompsons of Newcastle, which has handled many of the claims, said: "It would be valuable for there to be a forum for public concern about the progress to date and to discuss the issues."

The County Durham NUM has also offered its support