The Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU) has won more than £1.65bn in accident and injury compensation for its members since its formation 83 years ago.

The news comes as the union releases figures for the total amount won in compensation in 2004. It was involved in 12,289 cases with settlements amounting to £72.4m. That equates to an average award of just under £6,000 for each claimant.

T&G general secretary Tony Woodley said that “every penny” of the awards had gone to the members involved. Woodley also praised the work of the union’s in-house legal team and its panel of solicitors and barristers.

The union was formed in 1922 to represent workers in the docks, transport, manufacturing and general workers’ sectors.