The Government is fighting an appeal against the European Court of Human Rights in order to stave of a compensation bill that could run to several billion pounds. The money will be paid out of the taxpayers pocket if the judgement is upheld regarding the need to compensate those whose lives are affected by noise and vibrations caused by night flights in and out of Heathrow airport.

Eight residents won a landmark legal case in October of last year, when the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg ordered the Department of Transport to pay them each £4,000 in compensation for an unfair breach of the right to respect for private and family life. The court ruled that the level of noise permitted by legislation on night flights was so high as to violate the rights of those living nearby.

Research from the department of transport calculated that between 100,000 and 500,000 residents could make similar claims if the ruling is upheld, meaning a total bill of between £400 million and £2 billion, plus legal costs. This total could rise even higher if more claims were made by residents living close to Gatwick and Stansted airports.

The government is pinning its hopes on the ability of its legal team to convince the court of the economic benefit attached to night flights, which it claims the European court ignored the first time around. Evidence from British Airways suggests that the 15 flights in and out of Heathrow between 11.30pm and 6am, which are mainly to and from long-haul destinations such as Asia, contribute about £1.3 billion to gross domestic product and support 11,000 jobs. The FT reported that ministers have been given legal advice that the chances of success are 60-40 in its favour.

The residents, for whom £4,000 will not exactly be a massive amount of compensation for years of sleepless nights, are led by the HACAN Clearskies group. They claim that the compensation is not important, since the members want to see the night services halted altogether. John Stewart, chairman of the group, said: "We did not go to Europe to make ourselves rich, but to get a good night's sleep."