MPs have joined a family in criticising North-East lawyers over money they made pursuing miners' compensation claims.

Six law firms in the region have made more than £250m between them, handling claims on behalf of former miners who suffered debilitating illness as a result of their work.

One firm, Thompsons, received more than £100m. The average pay-out for miners in the North-East is less than £5,000.

Thompsons received £106.4m, Browell Smith & Co £51.2m, Mark Gilbert Morse £48.6m, Watson Burton £28.5m, The Legal Warehouse £13.7m and Kidd & Spoor Harper £11m.

Between them, they have received £259.8m in payments from the Department of Trade and Industry under an agreed set of tariffs for taking miners' compensation cases.

A total of 114,352 compensation cases in the North-East have yielded £501,883,087 for suffering former pitmen and their families.

The average payout is calculated at £4,389.

North Durham MP Kevan Jones said: "I think it would have been much better setting up a compensation scheme that didn't have lawyers involved."

Newcastle East and Wallsend MP Nick Brown said: "The lawyers have done very well out of these cases financially.

"I would have preferred a statutory scheme without the need for litigation in each case."

Doreen Greener and Linda Elliott, both from Stanley, County Durham, pursued compensation claims on behalf of their late fathers, who died following coal mining-related ill- nesses.

In 2004, it was revealed their solicitors, Mark Gilbert Morse, of Grey Street, Newcastle, admitted deducting money unfairly, which they then paid back.

Ms Greener and Ms Elliot were eventually paid back about £1,000 each.

Ms Greener, 65, said: "Seeing these figures of how much the law firms have had from the taxpayer makes me feel even more mad about what happened to us."

Ian Lavery, chairman of the National Union of Miners, said: "I have to say that the legal firms have done a decent job for the miners.

"But you have to ask why the Government didn't try harder to strike a deal with us so we could have handled all the cases without having to appoint solicitors.

"That could have meant more compensation money for the miners and less money taken from the taxpayer."

An investigation by The Lawyer magazine reveals that, across the country, lawyers have received more than £800m in legal fees handling claims of sick coal miners.