A FORMER Strathclyde constable who contracted multiple sclerosis after suffering an apparently minor whiplash injury when a police bus overturned has been awarded damages of #547,250.

After hearing sharply conflicting evidence from the world's leading experts on MS, Lord Dawson concluded that the trauma suffered by Mr Nicholas Dingley, who faces life in a wheelchair, triggered his condition.

Yesterday, Mr Dingley, of Inverewe Drive, Glasgow, was told the news by his wife, Isobel, in a phone call to his mother's home in Millport, where the former police officer is staying for respite care.

However, Mr Dingley, 41, whose speech is starting to slur because of the disease, said he did not want to get too overjoyed in case an appeal was lodged. He said: ``I will have to wait and see when it's over.''

The couple, who share their home with daughters Nicky, 17, and Elaine, 14, plan to buy a house better suited for them to cope with Mr Dingley's condition.

Mrs Dingley said yesterday: ``It was such a long shot because the case was so difficult. I am glad it's finished.''

Asked what the future held for the family, Mrs Dingley said: ``I don't think anybody really knows. I just hope that winning this amount makes things a lot easier.''

Mr Dingley sued the Strathclyde Chief Constable who admitted negligence of a police driver but disputed that it led to the MS.

In a written judgment issued at the Court of Session yesterday, Lord Dawson said that Mr Dingley was a police constable in April 1990 travelling on the M8 in the back of the bus.

Near the Townhead interchange the driver lost control of the van which overturned. Mr Dingley suffered no injury apart from a small abrasion to the scalp, although his neck was painful.

Three weeks after the accident he noticed that his left leg was ``dragging'' and he felt as if he had gone lame. He also experienced double vision and had trouble keeping his balance.

In April 1991 his GP referred him to the department of neurology at Glasgow's Southern General Hospital and tests suggested that he was suffering from MS, a condition which attacks the central nervous system.

Lord Dawson said the cause of the condition was unknown, although it was thought its onset was brought about by some triggering mechanism such as a virus or emotional trauma.

``What is more controversial is whether physical injury can be the starting point, and if so what sort of injury.

``On this question I had the privilege of hearing evidence from a number of eminent and highly experienced witnesses.

``Those led by the Chief Constable were of the opinion that no form of physical trauma can ever trigger off multiple sclerosis. Those led by Mr Dingley took the view that at least certain types of injury such as that suffered by him could be the starting point and in his case probably was.''

Witnesses for Mr Dingley included Dr William Durward, consultant neurologist at Glasgow Royal Infirmary and the Nuffield Hospital, Professor Peter Behan, professor of neurology at the University of Glasgow and a consultant at the city's Southern General Hospital, and Dr Charles Poser, senior neurologist at Beth Israel Hospital and lecturer in neurology at the Harvard Medical School in Boston.

For the Chief Constable there was evidence from Professor William Sibley, who has held the chair of neurology of the University of Arizona since 1992, Dr Leonard Kurland, senior consultant in epidemiology at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota and Professor Alastair Compston, who holds the chair of neurology at the University of Cambridge.

Lord Dawson said it was not for him to make any pronouncement of scientific truth or settle the medical controversy on this issue.

The judge continued: ``I am satisfied that Mr Dingley did sustain a whiplash injury and that that probably caused some damage to the spinal cord.

``I am further satisfied that the symptoms which he later displayed indicated that MS had developed in the area which had been afffected by the trauma.

``More compelling, however, was the evidence of the medical witnesses for Mr Dingley who had all themselves seen cases where they accepted that the onset or recurrences of MS symptoms had been brought about by trauma, especially whiplash injury.

``In my opinion, these circumstances are far too strong to be put down as mere chance.

``Taking these matters together I am of the opinion that trauma such as that suffered by Mr Dingley can and does bring on symptoms of multiple sclerosis. I do not say this as a certainty but as a probabilty.''

In assessing damages, the judge pointed out that Mr Dingley, who was forced to retire from the police in May 1993, had been an active family man.

He could now only walk a few steps with support, suffered from severe depression, faced life in a wheelchair and his condition would not improve.

A spokeswoman for Strathclyde Police said last night: ``We have noted the judgment and are considering the position.''