THREE former pit canteen workers fear they could have missed out on thousands of pounds in a pay deal they say they didn't know about.

And now a mining union is considering taking legal action over comments made by Energy Minister Brian Wilson about why members never knew they could claim.

Christine Edwards, Rosita Thompson and Beryl Shurn worked at Markham colliery, finishing when the pit closed in November 1985.

The women were told they were not eligible for cash which would have given them equal pay with men.

Under the terms of the Equal Pay Act, claimants can bring a claim before an Employment Tribunal within a time limit of six months from the termination of employment.

In April, then energy minister Peter Hain made a deal with the NUM which resulted in 1,300 women who had worked in the pits and already lodged an equal value claim receiving payments of the basis of length of service.

Another 535 women who had reached an agreement with British Coal received top-up payments.

Mr Wilson said this week another 2,600 who had worked as canteen staff and cleaners had missed out.

Mrs Edwards claims she and her two former colleagues were never told they could claim, and said she had now been told she could have been entitled to £500 for each year she worked in the pit. She was there 12 years.

In a letter to those who have missed out, Mr Wilson said: "For reasons which the president of the NUM will doubtless be anxious to explain to its members, many claims which should have been registered between 1986 and 1992 were, in fact, never registered with the Employment Tribunal."

But an NUM spokeswoman said: "In view of comments made by Mr Wilson that the NUM failed to register claims for equal value on behalf of canteen workers and cleaners, the NUM is consulting our lawyers with a view to taking legal action."

Mrs Edwards said she was disappointed to miss out on the cash.

"I am not working and we could do with the money," she said. "Why weren't we notified at the time? We could have applied for it.

"Either the Department of Trade and Industry is to blame or the union - I don't know which."

Now she is planning to campaign for the three women to be allowed to put in a claim.

* In the picture: Former pit canteen staff, from left, Beryl Shurn, Christine Edwards and Rosita Thompson.