A Lanarkshire woman stuck in a legal battle since the 1980s has said she fears she will never see the money she is due.
Christine Mullen, who is from Rutherglen, was a care home worker until she suffered a back injury in 1985, when she was aged 42.
Despite judges finding in her favour, the Department of Social Security (now the Department of Work and Pensions) have refused to stump up any compensation to Christine, who was injured due to consistently lifting up patients.
The 78-year-old told our sister title the Sunday Mail: “I was forced to leave the job I loved because of my back injury, caused by constant lifting of patients.
“I was then told that it did not count as an industrial injury.
“Three of the highest judges in Scotland ruled that it was an industrial injury and that the DWP should pay up. They were wise words from wise men but they fell on deaf ears.”
The pensioner believes she is due about £96,000, plus interest, dating back to 1985. But she fears she will die before she sees the money that the court says is due to her.
In 2002 three judges ruled that carers are entitled to make a compensation claim if they hurt themselves lifting patients.
Experts said Christine was lifting the equivalent of at least five tons every day.
After the DSS refused to pay, she then took her case to the Court of Session in Edinburgh, where the judges found in her favour.
But the DWP refused to pay up, claiming her injuries weren’t serious enough.
Christine says she was offered £10,000 by the DWP to drop her 2002 court action but she refused.
She spent years moving elderly and infirm residents without specialist equipment or training, leaving her with chronic back problems and having to have two hip replacements.
Prior to her 1985 injury, she had been working at a home in Castlemilk for several years.
Christine, who has two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, added: "I worry that I could pass away before I can get the money I am due.
"I remember sitting in my bed with my husband and saying I can’t go on much longer with this. I am not sorry that I didn’t take the £10,000. I am proud I carried on and changed the law."
Christine’s lawyer Austin Lafferty said it was a gross injustice that her claim was not being paid by the DWP.
He added: “Christine is a modern-day heroine for working people.
She took the government to court and changed the law so tens of thousands of manual workers, carers and nurses can now claim industrial disablement benefit when they had been disqualified before.
"No matter how many doors are shut in her face, Christine will keep the fight alive. She deserves the benefit she is entitled to."
The Department of Work and Pensions was asked to comment on the case but did not respond.