This resulted in success for our clients and has led to a compensation scheme being set up from which thousands of ex-miners will benefit. Thompson & Co. are one of only 5 firms of solicitors that make up the British Coal Vibration White Finger Steering Committee. 1. Compensation British Coal Corporation (BCC) have agreed to pay levels of compensation very close to the amounts you could expect to recover from a Court. If a claim is successful, the level of compensation a claimant will get will depend upon your degree of handicap (as set out in any medical report) and your age at date of claim. Each person's compensation will be different, therefore, and it is not possible to generalise. 2. Medical Examinations The arrangements for medical examinations under the British Coal Vibration White Finger compensation scheme are that you will in due course be sent an appointment to be seen at a medical-centre. As soon as you have been for that, and when we have a copy of the report, we will let you know what the result of it is. You should note that you may not be able to be examined immediately, many thousands of men are to be seen and it will be some time before they all can be seen. You will be entitled to your travelling expenses. In a claim against any other employer it will be necessary to obtain a medical report from a private consultant to confirm that you suffer from Vibration White finger caused by using vibrating hand-held tools. 3. Other Defendants Some of you have claims against other employers in the Mining Industry (or even outside it). We do not yet know whether all of these employers will settle claims on the basis of this scheme or not. BCC's representatives have said that they will do their best to persuade other employer's insurers to use this scheme - however there is no guarantee that they will do so. If those insurers will not use the scheme then we will discuss that with you. Each case is different and this briefing cannot deal with all the potential problems. It may be necessary in such cases to proceed with court action. 4. Time Limits BCC have said that, so long as a claim was submitted by 31st October 2002 they will not take any point with regard to the length of time you have taken to bring your claim. Even if your claim was not lodged by 31 October 2002 you may still be able to make a claim at common law however you should claim immediately. If you are pursuing a claim against any other employer who has not signed up to the British Coal Scheme you should pursue your claim immediately. A person usually only has 3 years to issue court proceedings against an opponent from the date they are aware they are suffering from Vibration White Finger and connect that to their employment. Since Vibration White Finger is a progressive disease and comes on over a period of time, many claimants may already be out of time however the court has discretion to waive the three year time limit. The court is unlikely to waive the 3 year time limit where a claim has not been pursued at the earliest opportunity. 6. Occupation BCC accept that certain occupations would have used vibrating hand held tools; in other cases, they say that they would need to be convinced, and in some cases evidence (from witnesses) would have to be produced before they would even consider the claim. EXAMPLES - A face and development worker will be dealt with on the basis that work involved sufficient use of tools to cause VWF.
- Overmen or surface electricians, on the other hand, are assumed not to have used tools at all, and so will have to produce proof that they did.
In Claims against any other employer it will be necessary to provide evidence (usually in the form of witness statements) that you used vibrating tools on a regular basis. Vibration white finger Claim | 
