FORMER miners who suffer from debilitating Vibration White Finger are taking legal action after losing out on thousands of pounds in compensation.

The Department of Industry (DTI) last night confirmed that a number of men had begun civil cases against their solicitors for advice they received in settling their claims.

Several thousand men are thought to have lost out because they were badly advised and the DTI has written to every claimant to alert them.

Between a High Court judgement in September 1997, which set the level of compensation, and the agreement of a national claimants scheme by the DTI in January 1999, many men settled at levels far below those awarded by the court and later agreed in the scheme.

Some of them were thousands of pounds out of pocket.

Roger Maddocks, a Newcastle-based partner in law firm Irwin Mitchell and an expert on VWF claims, said: "The DTI continued to make offers based on the previous low tariff they were using and if men had waited, they would have been made offers at the higher tariffs in line with the court judgement.

"We are not talking here about a few hundreds pounds being lost either, they would have lost several thousand in some cases because they were badly advised by their solicitors."

Following the setting up of the national scheme, claims were later allowed not just for compensation for injury and financial loss but for assistance with everyday tasks - called service claims - which greatly boosted final payouts.

The VWF scheme has since closed to new claimants and has so far paid out £307m to miners and their families in the North-East, from a national bill of £952m.

Alan Cummings, former NUM lodge secretary at Easington Colliery in east Durham, said: "I know of quite a few cases where men were badly advised.

"They were told about money on offer, but they were not told that there was a likelihood of another tranche of money for loss of services.

"I am aware of one case about six years ago where a man got £2,500 as a full and final settlement when he could eventually have got more than £12,000."

Vibration White Finger, caused by vibrating power tools, leads to a numbing sensation in fingers, hands and arms, crippling sufferers.

A court ruling in 1996 found that the former British Coal had not adequately protected men from the effects.

A DTI spokesman said: "We are aware that some clients have commenced legal action against their solicitors about the advice they received at the time.

"We have written to all claimants and told them about these actions and if they are in a similar position, they should seek legal advice.