Huddersfield diver's family in compensation fight after tragedy 320ft down

Nov 30 2009 Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Stuart, a gas engineer, his brother David and their mother Ann all live in Upper Denby, having moved from Merseyside many years ago.

Stuart is married to Liz and has a stepdaughter Sarah and sons Thomas and Harry.

He is working with the North Sea Divers Alliance (NSDA) which is fighting to get payouts for families who lost loved ones working in the oil fields off the Norwegian coast.

NSDA director Tom Wingen, based in Norway, said: “His family would probably have been left with nothing.

“Their dad just did not come home alive.

“Most of the information which was given to the families was in Norwegian.

“They had no idea what they were reading.

“But Robert’s family would have a claim because he was killed.”

Last month, the group helped win compensation for the family of a diver from Northumberland who died in 1983.

The North Sea oil rush of the 1970s offered big rewards for high-risk work and claimed several lives.

Hundreds of British deep-sea divers took part in the exploration of the North Sea oil fields in British and Norwegian territorial waters.

They were known as the pioneer divers, earning good money but exposed to grave risks.