A FORMER miner whose years down the pits left him with crippling lung disease has called a £7,000 compensation offer an "insult".

Nicholas Robson, 86, of Trimdon Station, County Durham, spent 35 years working at Deaf Hill and Ryhope colleries before a neck injury forced him to retire.

He now suffers from bronchitis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease as a result of breathing coal dust, and is barely able to leave the house without help from his daughter.

Mr Robson says that after lodging a claim under the Government's coal health compensation scheme he was staggered to learn he would receive only £7,213.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), which is responsible for the scheme, says the offer is based on the length of Mr Robson's employment. Under its terms, liability for the former British Coal was accepted only for the years after 1954, 13 years before he left the industry.

Mr Robson, who served with the RAF during the Second World War as an engine fitter, said: "I think this is a disgraceful offer and an insult. It is difficult to put into words how angry I am and how I feel."

His daughter, Lynne, said: "We just cannot fathom it. My father has an illness which has wrecked his life.

"He does not want this money for himself. He wants to leave it for the grandchildren and to get so little seems unfair.

"The miners worked in atrocious conditions at a time when the country used to rely on them and this is what they get - it is a joke."

Mr Robson has asked his solicitors, Blackett, Hart and Pratt, to clarify the offer.

But the firm says its hands are tied as it is restricted by the terms of the scheme.

A formal disputes procedure is available for claimants to contest offers, but only if they can provide new medical evidence that their condition is worse than recorded previously.

A DTI spokesman said: "The compensation Mr Robson has received is based on the length of his employment after 1954 until he left British Coal in 1967.

"It was only after 1954 that steps were taken to prevent exposure to coal dust and this is the date we have always agreed is the earliest point from which claims are accepted."