A FORMER miner with a heart problem has hit out at officials after they declared him fit for work.

James Handy, 43, suffers from unstable angina - a narrowing of the arteries - and diabetes. He also has trouble walking.

But the Benefits Agency decided he should be on Jobseekers' Allowance and available for work, instead of Incapacity Benefit, after being examined by one of its doctors.

Mr Handy, of Easington Colliery, County Durham, spoke out about what he described as a ridiculous situation after reading how Anthony Embleton, 38, of Walker, Newcastle, died of a second heart attack after being declared fit for work and having his benefit cut.

Mr Handy was unemployed for years following the closure of Easington Colliery after the former Conservative government's scaling down of the mining industry.

But he was rendered unable to work when his illnesses developed about a year ago.

Mr Handy, who lives in a terraced house with his wife, Pat, and 14-year-old daughter Kelly, was called for a medical examination by a Benefits Agency doctor.

"The doctor said I needed further investigation and should be reviewed in 12 months," he said yesterday. "But an official at Peterlee said I should be on Jobseekers' Allowance.

"I think it stinks when a doctor says yes and a civil servant with no medical training says no.

"It is like talking to a brick wall. When I said I could give them further evidence from my consultant at the University Hospital of Hartlepool they did not want it. They said they do not deal with hospitals."

Mr Handy said only his walking difficulties registered under the agency's assessment system.

Although his income will not actually change in light of the benefit switch, he is appealing against the decision.

"It is upsetting and frustrating," he said. "There is no way anyone would employ me. I would be a liability. The system is wrong. It needs to be changed. It is a worry for us, particularly when I think of that poor lass whose husband died."

A Benefits Agency spokesman could not be contacted for comment last night.