A CHANCE meeting on a train with Home Secretary David Blunkett has boosted a Thalidomide victim's campaign to get tax cuts on compensation.

Guy Tweedy was on the York-bound train from London's King's Cross when Mr Blunkett and his dog, Sadie, sat close by him in the dining car.

Mr Tweedy, a businessman from Harrogate, North Yorkshire, had been lobbying MPs at the Houses of Parliament as part of his campaign to stop the Government taxing victims on their compensation.

The 41-year-old campaigner said: "Having spent hours at the Commons trying to track down MPs, I could not believe my luck when Mr Blunkett came to sit near me.

"I asked one of the police officers with him if I could speak to the Home Secretary and he agreed to do so."

Shortly after the impromptu meeting, Mr Tweedy received a letter from Mr Blunkett thanking him for the briefing.

Mr Tweedy said: "I was really grateful that someone in such a position took time to listen to what I had to say, and followed it up with the letter. I found him a very pleasant chap."

Along with campaigner Nick Dobrick, from London, Mr Tweedy is hoping for a change of heart from Chancellor Gordon Brown.

Campaigners have accused the Chancellor of taking £6m in taxes from the victims, when previous Chancellors from every Government allowed tax concessions.

In 1973, the Thalidomide Trust was set up to administer ongoing compensation offered initially by chemical firm Distillers to victims of the drug.

Mr Tweedy said: "This is a major fight. We know there is support for it and that what is being done is wrong.

"In Japan and in Germany, the Thalidomide victims do not pay any tax. So why should victims in this country be taxed?