'I want to know what happened to the money'

IN 2003, an advertising campaign was launched by a small Glasgow law firm encouraging miners or their families to contact them for possible compensation claims against the government.

• Helen Baxter was awarded, but has yet to receive, 9,049.38 for the illness suffered by her late father-in-law, Henry, who died in 1981. Pic: Dan Phillips

The firm, McConville O'Neill, had two solicitors with expertise in personal injury claims, Paul McConville and his then business partner Ciaran O'Neill, and their target was the coal miners' compensation scheme, set up to recompense miners for the illnesses caused by working in one of Britain's dirtiest industries.

The claims could be made for conditions such as "white finger", caused by vibrating machinery, or various crippling lung diseases that a generation of mine workers developed in the employment of the old, nationalised British Coal Board at a time when health and safety measures were recognised to have been inadequate.

Most cases in Scotland had been dealt with by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and their lawyers, but this depended on how active the NUM branch was in different areas of Scotland so some miners were not made aware of their rights.

In areas such as Central Fife, McConville O'Neill found a large number of former miners and their families who had not been aware of their chances for compensation and encouraged them to put in claims.

In total across Scotland they put in 1,704 claims and won more than 2 million in compensation for their clients, according to Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) figures. The fund was very lucrative for lawyers and the firm also received more than 2m in costs, mostly fees.

According to various complainants, most of the cases appear to have been dealt with by McConville. O'Neill is believed to have left the partnership several years ago.

William Hunter, 68, from Methil, remembers the day he received a call from McConville. "I hadn't thought of applying until then because I thought I wouldn't get anything," he told Scotland on Sunday.

Hunter worked in the mines from 1957 to 1964 and suffered from breathing problems.

About 18 months ago he was awarded 81.60 in compensation.However, under an agreement made between the government's Coal Liabilities Unit and solicitors leading claims, the solicitor involved had a duty to round this figure up to 500.

The agreement had been made because of the "generous" fees being given to lawyers working on the cases.

Hunter then spent months trying to contact McConville to find out when his 500 would arrive.

"He was always out or seeing somebody - it was very frustrating," Hunter said.

Eventually he turned to his MP Lindsay Roy for help and took his complaint to the Law Society of Scotland.

But by then McConville had been declared bankrupt. An application for sequestration was brought at Hamilton Sheriff Court by HM Revenue & Customs for "revenue debt" and on April 28 this year the application was granted.

Earlier this month, the Law Society stepped in to pay Hunter the 500.

Mary Hunter, no relation, also made a claim after responding to McConville's advertising in 2003, for her late father George who died, aged 56, in 1965.

In 2005 she was awarded 7.01, which McConville also should have increased to 500. But she says she never received the money.

The compensation from the Coal Liability Unit was low because her father used to smoke heavily, which it was claimed was partly responsible for his bronchitis and lung problems. Hunter has just received 1,000 from the Law Society in compensation to make up her shortfall.

Hunter, 63, said: "I still feel angry about it. Quite honestly I am just wondering what he did with all the money and how many more people lost out to what they were entitled to because of him."

But one of the largest amounts withheld by McConville so far appears to be to Helen Baxter, who was awarded 9,049.38 for the illness suffered by her late father-in-law, Henry, in January 2009.

Baxter, now 80, who nursed her father-in-law until he died in 1981, believes she may now never see that money.

"It really is just so wrong that he held on to that money," she said. "McConville was never there when I called for him, but he was supposed to be representing me.

"I just want to know what happened to the money. I've been waiting for seven and a half years for it."

Two other cases, taken up by Willie Rennie, the former Lib Dem MP for Dunfermline and West Fife, also emerged earlier this year.

Two of his constituents, Andy Hunter, 46, of High Valleyfield, and William Forrest, 65, of Dunfermline, claim they were owed 12,600 and 26,000, respectively, by McConville.

These cases were raised in January this year before McConville was declared bankrupt.