The means by which a former miner can claim compensation for loss of hearing after years of working underground next to noisy machinery with inadequate protection should be straightforward. The Department of Trade and Industry, in its guise as the executor of British Coal’s liabilities, offers routine four-figure settlements to those meeting the necessary medical criteria. What should be a comparatively simple legal process has become obscenely warped by the behaviour of some lawyers and the often needless involvement of insurers and banks. And miners already robbed of their health are now being left out of pocket.

The web of arrangements, which we report on today, whereby commissions and fees were paid to solicitors and claims managers by insurance agents appears complex. Indeed, it is. But somewhere in the middle lies a simple truth, the tale of two miners. Stephen Platko and John Nichol were both offered £2,800 by the DTI to settle their claims. Mr Platko banked £2,512.50. Mr Nichol has so far received just £1,469.04. The former made his claim in comparatively innocent times, though his payment did not escape the clutches of others — £352.50 was deducted by solicitors on behalf of Vendside, a claims-handling company.

The propriety of levying such a fee, which has been mirrored in other compensation cases, is currently before the High Court. Mr Nichol applied, like Mr Platko, via the Union of Democratic Mineworkers. Yet he had the misfortune to do so only after several key players decided to institute new procedures that would take their often elderly, physically disabled and economically struggling clients on a befuddling ride through a financial maze. By the time they emerged, it could have cost them up to half of their compensation.

The essence of the change was to advise claimants that they needed insurance lest they were pursued for costs if their claims failed. Such advice was questionable. The overwhelming majority of the 36,000 hearing loss claims since 1997 have sailed through. And the idea that the DTI would pursue individual miners through the courts for its costs looks absurd. Yet those not in a position to be any the wiser signed up to such a scheme, and the high-interest bank loan that went with it. It may cost Mr Nichol about £1,000. By comparison, the solicitors who instituted such procedures have been doing very nicely for themselves.

This scandal is separate from the way solicitors and union employees have handled the claims of ex-miners suffering from chronic chest diseases and vibration white finger, on which we have previously reported. In those cases — the subject of a criminal inquiry — the taxpayer as well as the miners lost millions. But the breathtaking treatment of its members by the union they trusted and the exploitative approach of certain solicitors are an ugly common thread. The Law Society, though aware of the issues for a year, needs to be far more activist. Only with the most exhaustive investigations can the odour surrounding these cases be cleared.