A SCUBA diver, left with both legs paralysed by the bends after a dive to a wreck, has had a High Court bid for six-figure compensation rejected.

Father-of-three Geoffrey Hardaker, 57, sued both Newcastle Health Authority and the Northumbria Chief Constable, alleging negligence.

He had been shuttled by helicopter from Leith, near Edinburgh, to Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary, and then on to the Police National Diving School, in Sunderland, but decompression facilities at both were closed because it was Sunday.

Mr Hardaker's compensation hopes were dashed when High Court judge, Mr Justice Stanley Burnton, yesterday exonerated both the health authority and chief constable from any blame. The experienced diver and marine engineer, of Windsor Crescent, Whitley Bay, said later: "The moral of this case is don't dive on a Sunday."

He said decompression sickness had at first left both his legs paralysed and, although he has made some recovery since, he can still only get about on crutches.

The judge said that cases of the bends were rare in the UK - there are only about 150 in the UK annually and only about four cases were dealt with at the RVI.