MORE than 2,000 people have lent their support to The Northern Echo's Justice for the Miners campaign within days of a petition being launched.

They have signed a petition coordinated by miner's daughter Pat Daglish, whose father Thomas died as a result of working down the pits.

Another 160 people have filled out coupons from the newspaper urging the Government to speed up compensation for sick and dying miners and their families.

Despite the show of support, Ms Daglish urged more people yesterday to give their support by attending a public meeting next week or adding their name to the petition.

"People are in total agreement with what we are trying to do and think the way the miners are being treated is appalling," she said.

The public meeting, jointly hosted by The Northern Echo and Easington District Council, has been set for August 21 at 7pm.

The meeting, at Seaham Leisure Centre, County Durham, will highlight the difficulties caused by the delays in the payment of compensation and help to find the best way of solving the problem.

Present will be Easington MP John Cummins, Durham NUM chiefs, claimants' solicitors, and, it is hoped, a representative from the Department of Trade and Industry.

Today, The Northern Echo reprints the coupon which readers can fill in to show their support for the campaign.

More volunteers are needed to help with the petition being organised by Ms Daglish, of Stanley, County Durham.

It is available for the public to sign at The Northern Echo's offices at 127 Newgate Street, Bishop Auckland, 18 Claypath, Durham, and Priestgate, Darlington.

The petition and the coupons will be presented as part of a dossier to the Government.

So far, more than 110,000 miners across the country have submitted compensation claims for diseases as a result of coal dust, yet only one has received a full pay-out.

Ms Daglish added: "But more help is still needed. If everybody just took one copy of the petition and collected signatures on their street and then passed it on to the next person we would have hundreds of thousands.