On 12th June 2007, the Newham Recorder reported that Maureen Lee, the widow of Billy Lee, has received a £177,000 compensation payout from his one-time employer, the Port of London Authority, which did not dispute liability.
Her husband lived and worked around the London docks, supervising the movement and storage of cargo which often included bags of asbestos. Some of these bags would be damaged when they were moved, for example, they might be pierced by the tines of a fork lift truck. This would result in deadly asbestos fibres being released into the atmosphere.
At the age of 60, he retired to Benfleet in Essex, but three years later in March 2004 he was diagnosed with mesothelioma, a deadly cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. He died within nine months.
Maureen's case was handled by Pauline Chandler, one of the UK's leading solicitors in industrial disease cases, from Manchester law firm Pannone LLP.The lawyer said:
"Asbestos-related disease will increase over the next 10 to 15 years as people who were exposed to it during their working lives in the Fifties, Sixties and Seventies develop symptoms."
She said Mr Lee, who lived in Canning Town, Millwall and East Ham, was exposed to asbestos as he walked around the docks. Sacks and bags of asbestos were regularly pierced by forklift trucks and the dust was released into the air.
"He was given no protective masks, nor was he even warned of the dangers of the material."
Unlike in many cases the PLA did not prolong Mrs Lee's legal fight by taking the claim all the way to court.
Experts point out that contrary to popular opinion, asbestos wasn't just used in heavy industry such as shipbuilding. It was also widely used by painters and decorators because it was contained in some wall coverings. They also used to rub down asbestos surfaces and asbestos lagged pipes prior to painting.Carpenters were asked to cut sheets of it, and plumbers and laggers often had to strip it from boilers.Women too were exposed to asbestos, particularly when their husbands came home wearing overalls covered in the killer dust.
To read the full story, please click on the link below.
http://www.newhamrecorder.co.uk/content/newham/recorder/news/story.aspx?brand=RECOnline&category=newsNEWHAM&tBrand=northlondon24&tCategory=newsnewham&itemid=WeED12%20Jun%202007%2017%3A27%3A44%3A810
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