Legal aid for tunnellers to sue Nuttall

Seventy former Tyne Tunnel workers who claim that they are suffering from a crippling bone disease after working in compressed air are set to restart legal proceedings against Edmund Nuttall, their former employer, following a U-turn by the Legal Aid Board.

The group, who helped build the tunnel between 1962 and 1966, dropped plans to sue Nuttall last year when the LAB asked them to make large financial contributions toward the cost of bringing their multi-group action to court. Now the money has been increased allowing the case to start again.

The workers are suffering from bone necrosis which they say is a direct result of working underground in compressed air conditions.

Nuttall declined to comment on the renewed threat.

n The Health and Safety Commission is to issue a consultative document next week proposing to update compressed air regulations in an attempt to improve the situation with bone necrosis and decompression sickness.