MINERS sacked "unjustly" during the bitter 1984 strike are to get their pensions topped up, the Government announced last night.

The move was welcomed in the North-East last night by miners leaders who claimed the men had suffered a long-standing injustice.

Energy Minister Brian Wilson told Durham North Labour MP Kevan Jones in a written reply that a number of pitmen not re-employed by British Coal had been "harshly treated".

He said their pensions would be enhanced, from the residual assets of British Coal, "in recognition of the years of further service they lost as a result of British Coal's decision not to re-employ them".

But miners who perpetrated "serious acts of violence or intimidation, or actions which jeopardised the safety of others" would not qualify.

About 1,000 miners nationally are believed to have been sacked in the bitter year-long dispute between the NUM and the Conservative Government.

John Cummings, MP, for Easington in County Durham, an area hard hit by the demise of British mining, welcomed the decision. "I haven't seen the detail and I think he is talking about an extra five years' service," he said.

"It is 14 years overdue but at least the minister has carried through his promise to analyse all cases and make appropriate provision.

"The mining group of MPs has been lobbying for this since 1987. He has established the principle and many miners will feel the benefit."

Sunderland North MP Bill Etherington, a former NUM official, said: "I am extremely pleased after all these years that the Government has decided a gross injustice was done to many miners who often had their employment prospects ruined for life.

"Although there will be people who say it could be more, at least it is a recognition and an attempt to redress that injustice."

Former miner David Murray, of Coxhoe, County Durham, has been campaigning for a fairer distribution of the surpluses generated by the mining industry's two pension funds.

He said: "The miners have had a raw deal. Bygones should be bygones. They paid the money in and they should have it.