West Fife miners fight for compensation
Gary Fitzpatrick • Published 28 Jan 2010 07:15
7 Comments
TWO former miners from West Fife face a fight to recover thousands of pounds owed to them, after claiming their cases were seriously mishandled by their solicitor.
The men, both suffering from the painful industrial injury, vibration white finger (VWF), now have to take legal action against AWOL lawyer Paul McConville, who they can no longer contact, and the Law Society of Scotland is taking proceedings to establish if he is guilty of professional misconduct.
For several years, MP Willie Rennie has been looking into the case of two ex-miners Andy Hunter (46, pictured), of High Valleyfield, and William Forrest (65), of Dunfermline.
The men have missed out on large compensation payments they should have already received under a Government scheme for the sufferers of the painful VWF condition, caused by using hand-held power tools over long periods.
It causes numbness and discolouring of the fingers, makes gripping objects difficult and can cause painful throbbing, especially in the cold winter.
Having been let down originally by the health and safety regime in the mines, the men claim they have now been let down by the legal system and many others may be in the same predicament.
Mr Hunter, of Dunimarle Street, said, "My case has been going on since 2003 and I've never had a penny."
The scheme's claim handlers, Capita Insurance Services, have confirmed that £12,600 was paid out to Mr Hunter's solicitors in April 2008 but he says he has still received nothing and claims he has had no communication from the Glasgow-based McConville O'Neill firm in years.
Mr Hunter, who worked in the mines for 17 years at Castlehill then Castlebridge, said, "I became suspicious after not hearing from the solicitors for two years.
"When you phone you don't get past the receptionist. That's when I got in touch with my MP."
And he claimed, "It turns out that there was an offer made to the solicitors of £26,000 but I wasn't told about it.
"The paperwork would have taken no time to complete but because they didn't act in time that payment offer lapsed.
"Then there was an offer of £12,000 which was paid to the solicitors without me knowing anything and I've never seen any of it.
"I'm an angry man. It's unbelieveable the way this has been handled and I just wonder how many others are affected.
"This could be just the tip of the iceberg.
Mr Forrest, of West Baldridge Road, who worked in the mines for 38 years at Comrie, Longannet and Monktonhall, said, "This case has been going on for eight or nine years now.
"I was given an interim payment of £6000 and then I heard nothing more.
"Twice I even went through to Glasgow to see the solicitor and he was always as nice as ninepence but never told you anything.
"This whole thing has been a shambles.
"You're told you have to leave it to the solicitor and the insurance company to sort it out.
"In my case, the solicitors made a mess of it, missed the cutting off date and I'm having to carry the can.
"It was money that I thought I was entitled to but it hasn't happened.
"Now I've been advised to hire another solicitor to try to get the money back from McConvilles.
"It was only through the work of Willie Rennie that I even found out my case had been closed down because the cut-off date had been missed.
"Otherwise nobody would have told me."
Mr Rennie said, "Andy and William have been badly let down by the legal system.
"They trusted their lawyer to do the right things but are still waiting several years later.
"It is an outrageous betrayal of two hard working miners and I will keep fighting on their behalf and would like to hear from any others who have been treated in a similar way."
The Law Society of Scotland wrote to Mr Rennie following a hearing in September to inform him, "The council, acting through its committee, considers that the allegations may justify prosecution before the Scottish Solicitors' Discipline Tribunal.
"The society has appointed a solicitor, known as a Fiscal, to investigate and, if appropriate, prosecute the complaint."
Paul McConville has not only been incommunicado to his unhappy clients and Mr Rennie but failed to respond to the Law Society correspondence on the matter.
The society decided that this "appeared to amount to a serious and reprehensible departure from the standard of conduct to be expected of a competent and reputable solicitor; that it appeared to be capable of being proved beyond reasonable doubt and could thus amount to professional misconduct".
Ciaran O'Neill and Paul McConville founded McConville O'Neill in 2001.
Their website boasts, "As experienced personal injury solicitors they combine approachability and friendliness. Their priority is to obtain financial compensation on behalf of their clients."
However, the telephone number on the website is unobtainable.
Have your say. Post a comment on this article.
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******
Jan 28, 10:29
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D Ross
Unregistered User
Jan 28, 11:24
Report commentcharming comment im sure and where do you reside? Not everyone in valleyfield is a booze drinking hash smoking gypsy, get a grip you sad person. Dont even have the balls to put your name. Good Luck to all the guys having issues with this hope is cleared up soon and you can move on with your life.
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munion
Unregistered User
Jan 28, 14:23
Report commentDRoss.
I reside in valleyfield, YES you are totally correct not everyone in this ex-mining village are boozy,hash smoking gypsies.
My name is irrellevant, but in truth everybody knows the problems with drugs and alcohol problems that are very plain to see.
perhaps the elders of the village or some others my wish to clean the place up.
i will be in the valley bar @ 8pm tonight
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Jordans
Unregistered User
Jan 28, 14:41
Report commentWere you misrepresented? see minerscompensationclaims.com
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D Ross
Unregistered User
Jan 28, 16:27
Report commentoh the comment has been removed thats good.
munion I totally agree with everything you say, there isnt the same community spirit as there once was, I remember as a kid being to scared to get myself into bother as there was always somebody watching happy to inform your parents of your bad behaviour, its a shame that people are now to frightened of the repercussion's of tackling individuals who are causing the problems in the 1st place.
unfortunately i cannot meet in the valleybar tonight i now live 50 odd miles away but i would love to hear if you do have anyone meet you.
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munion
Unregistered User
Jan 29, 10:05
Report commentD Ross.
I also grew up in this ( what was a very tight knit commuinity) granted its not the nicest place for families to raise young children. I also agree the village needs to tackle these individuals, even the police know who is suppling drugs etc etc. but then nothing is donernwhen i was a kid there you could be out untill the early hours and feel safe as houses. not now.
nobody met in the valley bar, why i dont know.
any way D Ross. i hope that people will step up the line and help myself and others tackle the problems that now seem rife in this village.
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dhross
Unregistered User
Jan 31, 10:06
Report commentM Union
Its not the worst of place's to grow up either,i find it ridiculous that the police do nothing although i dont understand that the normal bobbies on the beat have to wait for the drug squad to act.
Yes it was a safe place when i was a kid too, on a recent visit back it shocked me that at 26/27 my mother now felt the need to walk me to the local takeaway i found it shocking that she too is starting to worry about who's lurking around after dark.
Maybe nobody met you because they dont come onto the website!!
i really hope that people from torryburn newmills and valleyfield stand up and tackle these problems and restore the villages to what made them great in the 1st place and that was knowing your kids were safe regardless of which part of the village they were in.
hope you've had a good weekend
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andrew graham
Unregistered User
Mar 8, 12:25
Report commentI HAVE BEEN TRYING TO CLAIM THROUGH Mc CONNOVILLE SINCE 2004 FOR MY LATE FATHER IT IS WELL OUT OF ORDER THAT A LAWYER GETS AWAY WITH CONING THE WORKING MAN + I HAVE BEEN IN TOUCH WITH THE LAW SOCIETY AND STILL NO FURTHER FORWARD WITH THE MATTER ITS RIDICULAS MY PHONE NUMBER IS 01333 313834 YOURS SINCERLY DREW GRAHAM
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