Industry Minister Helen Liddell announced a fast-track system for paying compensation to dying miners on the day The Northern Echo handed her a 12,000-signature petition calling for action.

The move came a month after the newspaper organised a public meeting to highlight the plight of thousands of former miners and their families who were facing waits of up to six years for compensation for lung disease caused by coal dust.

Hundreds of former miners and their families attended the meeting, in County Durham, which gave claimants the chance to raise their concerns with senior Department of Trade and Industry officials.

The deal announced by the Minister means 16,000 of the most seriously-ill miners have been promised payments by Christmas and the claim process will be significantly streamlined for almost 100,000 others.

The Northern Echo had stepped up its two-year Justice for the Miners campaign in August after excusively revealing, a day before its national and local rivals, that only one claimant had received a full and final payment, 17 months after a system for paying compensation was agreed in the High Court.

The fact that 250 claimants were dying every month was one of the points highlighted in The Northern Echo’s reports on the issue.

Mrs Liddell praised the newspaper’s campaign, led by Deputy News Editor Euan McGrory and reporter Stuart Arnold, for keeping the issue in the spotlight when she unveiled the fast-track system.

Peter Barron, Editor of The Northern Echo, said: “It is a scandal that so many miners have died waiting for justice. The Government needed a shove and, hopefully, this announcement will bring some comfort to men who suffered so badly from working at the coal-face.”

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