BRITAIN'S hospitals and computer industry could do with hiring a few asylum seekers, it has been claimed.

Worcestershire and Herefordshire are due to accept several hundred asylum seekers in the coming 12 months, starting this month.

They should be viewed as an asset because the country's ageing population means vacancies are appearing in skilled as well as unskilled sectors, according to Terry Williams.

He is a former Mayor of Tenbury and now the co-ordinator for the Refugees, Asylum Seekers and the Mass Media Project (RAM).

RAM is a coalition formed by Oxfam, Save the Children Fund and Student Action for Refugees.

The group claims there is an urgent need to combat "asylum myths" circulating in the media, particularly the national Press.

"If you have read the recent headlines and stories about asylum seekers, you could be forgiven for thinking that everyone who seeks asylum in the UK comes here for an easy life on social security and other people's cash," said Mr Williams, who was Tenbury's Mayor for several years in the 1980s and is now a councillor in Sandwell.

"That's simply not the case."

He said most asylum seekers don't want to be on benefit - they want steady employment.

"I met an Eastern European doctor recently who was a refugee and working as a taxi driver because he couldn't get a job in the health service," he added.

"There's nothing wrong with being a taxi driver, but what a waste of his skills."

Images of asylum seekers and refugees being fit only for lowly "sweatshop" industries are out of touch, according to Mr Williams.

"With our increasingly elderly population we need people to fill job vacancies. Many asylum seekers come with skills and qualifications - they could work in computing or hospitals, for instance."

He has offered to explain the issues surrounding asylum seekers to Evening News readers, who can contact him on 0121 588 6341.

"I've already had hate mail and so on from people like the National Front," said Mr Williams.

"But we hope to make our voices heard above the racket of misinformation that is being generated by some of the region's Press."