Missing out

ALAN JOHNSON has been a doughty champion of the trawlermen of the Humber. In a dispute over missing pensions that now stretches back decades, the former Minister has striven to keep the issue in the public eye and worked tirelessly behind the scenes to try to get Parliament and the Pensions Regulator to work together to ensure justice for former trawler workers who have missed out on money that is rightfully theirs.

Now the Labour MP for Hull West and Hessle is at it again, forcing a Commons debate later this week to try to speed up the long overdue resolution of this sorry situation in which 57 former trawlermen say they have never received a penny despite being told that their pensions have already been paid out. In many cases, these are men who worked out of the Humber as long ago as the Sixties and Seventies before losing their jobs as the industry declined. Yet, because so much time has passed, it has been a mammoth and highly complex operation to track down the missing funds.

It is a tribute to campaigners such as Mr Johnson that millions of pounds have been located and the majority of men paid out. But until those remaining receive what they are owed, the book cannot be closed on their scandalous mistreatment.