Ex Miners Claims

A collection of former miners who suffered from industrial injuries are lodging claims stating that they were under compensated from a government scheme. The claims were put forward at Leeds County Court, from 20 ex miners against several law firms who originally represented the ex mining workers. The men previously received compensation pay for vibration white finger which is a pain or numbness which occurs due to being exposed to industrial vibrating power tools. The claims are being placed in order to cover costs for tasks such as DIY and gardening. Although the government has stated that the scheme was administered fairly. If these new compensation claims are to be successful it may open up the possibility of 50,000 other claims from other ex miners. The miners former solicitors made claims through the government compensation scheme which was created so that the claims did not have to be taken to court. There was also the view that handling the claims this way would ensure that they awarded in a fair and consistent way. The claims which have been lodged range from a few thousand pounds to 25,000 for younger ex miners. The scheme was originally set up to compensate miners suffering from lung disease due to breathing in coal dust and also vibration white finger. The scheme is the UKs biggest ever personal injury compensation scheme and has paid out over 4.1 billion to ex miners. The new claims which are now surfacing have come at a time when the new coalition government seeks to cut all areas of public money, this may have an influence over how much, if any, compensation will be paid out to the ex miners.