PLANS were drawn up for secret lie detector tests to catch out former miners making false compensation claims, The Northern Echo can reveal.

Civil servants in the Department for Trade and Industry (DTI) recommended the use of FBI-style polygraph machines amid fears that pit injuries were being exaggerated.

The tests were to be carried out on surviving miners and witnesses providing evidence on behalf of former pitmen.

But recognising the outcry the tests were likely to provoke, ministers were urged to keep them secret from claimants and their solicitors, if at all possible.

The recommendation was revealed when a confidential advice document to Industry Minister Nigel Griffiths was leaked.

A spokeswoman for the minister said he had rejected the proposal.

The restricted policy note said: "Even though we have recommended that the claimant groups are not told about this pilot, and Capita have been asked to ensure it is kept quiet, it is possible that solicitor firms may become aware of a change in process.

"This being the case, it will be important for us to have a response ready if the question does arise."

Capita is the private company chosen by the DTI to administer the miners' compensation scheme.

The DTI spokeswoman said: "Policy officials put this proposal forward to the minister, but he rejected it outright. It will not be piloted."

David Guy, president of the National Union of Mineworkers in the North-East, said the disclosure beggared belief and was an insult to genuine claimants.

"The civil servant who made the suggestion should be sent down a mine to hew coal for six months to see how they like it," he said