A FORMER miner is stepping up the pressure to get a quicker compensation deal for former pit workers.

Bolton councillor Dennis Barlow is one of hundreds of ex-miners whose health was damaged working for years at the coal face.

Cllr Barlow now suffers from bronchitis and emphysema and like thousands of other miners around the country was hopeful when court test cases last year ruled they would be entitled to compensation.

But the councillor, who is also a representative of the Coalfield Communities Campaign, says he is becoming increasingly frustrated by the length of time it is taking to settle claims and the cumbersome procedures former miners are being forced to go through.

Solicitors acting for hundreds of claimants last year even sent out letters offering a will writing service because of concerns from some of their clients that they would die before their compensation was paid.

Cllr Barlow has sought the support of local MP David Crausby in order to pressure the government into ordering a speeding up of the payouts for lung conditions and vibration white finger.

And he has written a strong letter complaining about the delays to Irisc, the claim handlers acting for British Coal.

Cllr Barlow, a 66-year-old married great grandfather says his own case is not unusual.

He was a pit worker at Mosley Common for 17 years from the age of 14, working on mines rescue as well as at the pit face.

But ill health forced him to give up the job and he went on to work in motorway construction.

"I have been having problems with my chest for 20 odd years now," he said.

"You are short of breath all the time. I have to take inhalers in the morning and carry them around during the day. It is terrible really."

Cllr Barlow added that the condition will not improve and several of his former colleagues with the same illness are now confined to wheelchairs, being kept alive by oxygen.

"I hope I die before I get to that stage," he said.

The Coalfield Communities Campaign says frustration and anger is building up among former miners at the slow pace of settlements and the medical examinations claimants are having to go through.

Many miners are having difficulty proving their length of service because British Coal work records have gone missing or been destroyed and claimants are having to find witnesses to prove they worked down the pits.

"They had me down as someone in Newcastle," said Cllr Barlow, who was also told that records could only show he had worked for eight years."

It is two years since he and many others first submitted their compensation claim.

"We are not much nearer now," said Cllr Barlow.

"People have been told about this money but they can't get their hands on it. It has not been handled at all well."