COMPENSATION is being sought by angry residents and workers affected by the endless blaze at Averies Recycling in Marshgate.

Those affected by the waste fire were encouraged to attend an open clinic at The Great Western Hotel in Station Road yesterday, where legal advisors were on hand to assess individual cases.

Paul Rooney Solicitors, a legal firm based out of Liverpool and Manchester, has been monitoring the fire from afar for several weeks.

Michael McNicholas, 22, works as a bench fitter with Vicaima, an interior door manufacturer in Greenbridge Industrial Estate.

He lives in Walcot Road and said he deals with heavy coughs and headaches on a daily basis as he cycles through the smog to and from work.

“I’m quite annoyed because we would’ve expected it to be out in a couple of days, but it’s still going on,” he said.

“All the people I know are getting frustrated with how they haven’t managed to deal with it.

“We want to see it moved to a different site because it’s a bit silly now. We also want there to be checks to see how much waste he has in there.”

Michael said the hot weather prevented him from closing the shutters at his home in Walcot Road, where black smoke from the fire has proved a nuisance for all.

Another resident who has suffered is Nick O’Kane, 21, and his girlfriend.

Nick lives in Nythe Road and his girlfriend works at the Gala Bingo outlet in Greenbridge Retail Park.

He said: “My girlfriend and her colleagues have been really badly affected. Their reception faces the direction of the fire and they can’t close the doors there when it’s hot.

“Customers have had to go home halfway through a session. They are older people and they can’t breathe properly if they stay any longer.

“My girlfriend gets a lot more tired than she used to and seems to get headaches quite often.”

David Gibson, head of marketing at Paul Rooney, said: “We had media alerts to what’s going on. If there’s a case or situation where people may have been injured, we are alerted to that.

“If the incident is a fire which has been burning for a long time, and the Environment Agency or fire brigade are involved, there is likely to be a lot of smoke which holds.

“We never know if this has created the problems until we are on the ground, but there has been a lot of interest on the phones.”

Anyone who is being affected by smoke from the fire is asked to seek medical advice by calling their GP or NHS 111.