Justice For The Miners
Sick miners could get millions off solicitors
SICK miners could be repaid
millions of pounds by solicitors
who wrongly took a cut
from compensation payments.
A pilot scheme in South
Yorkshire has uncovered
more than 300 new cases of alleged
double-charging by solicitors
to the tune of £200,000.
Scores of miners have already
received settlements
with the help of the Law Society's
legal complaints service
(LCS).
Ministers have now backed
the national extension of the
pilot scheme, which could
benefit thousands of former
miners in the North-East.
The LCS estimates that ten
per cent of the more than
750,000 beneficiaries of the
Coal Health Compensation
Scheme for men with vibration
white finger and lung disease
may have been improperly
charged by their
solicitors.
It will write to nearly
500,000 former miners warning
that they could have had
money wrongly deducted.
North Durham Labour MP
Kevan Jones said: "I think
this is a very good idea and
will fully support it. In the
meantime, I would urge anybody
who has had money deducted,
that they do not have
to wait for a letter and should
come forward now."
Some law firms took cuts
from payouts after they failed
to make their clients aware
that all administrative costs
involved were being paid by
the Government.
The Durham Area of the
National Union of Mineworkers
(NUM) also levied a 7.5 per
cent charge on the first
£13,333 paid.
It has refunded those miners
who requested their
money back and officially deregistered
itself as a trade
union last year to become a
claims handling company
called Durham Miners' Association.
Those who have
claimed the 7.5 per cent levy
back have not been invited to
continue as members of the
new association.
Former NUM member
Jimmy Taylor, 71, of Coxhoe,
County Durham, on the picket
line during the 1984-5
strike, said he was dismayed
to be excluded from the new
group after he reclaimed his
deduction.
He said: "I have been a
member of the union since
July 1951 and I have been a
loyal member all of those
years. It is a big blow to be told
they do not want you any
more."
The former union's general
secretary, David Hopper, said
the 7.5 per cent charge helped
fund the cost of fighting disputed
cases.
He said the decision not to
invite claimants to join reflected
the feelings of other
members who had not sought
to retrieve the deduction.
■ The LCS helpline is on 0845-
608-6565.
8:24am Friday 8th February 2008
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