Five-figure payout for man exposed to asbestos in ’60s

10:57am Wednesday 1st November 2006

A FORMER naval dockyard and power station worker from Sway diagnosed with a fatal asbestos-related lung disease has won a five-figure sum in compensation from the Ministry of Defence and electricity generators E.On UK.

John Gardner, 67, claimed he was exposed to asbestos while working for the MoD at Portsmouth in the early 1960s and the Central Electricity Generating Board as an engineer at Southampton and Marchwood power stations for 14 years until 1980.

E.On UK which succeeeded the CEGB will pay 60 per cent of the compensation with the rest of the undisclosed figure funded by the MoD.

Mr Gardner, who has not worked since being made redundant in 1992 said: "I worked with asbestos a great deal during my time with the MoD. I would work in boiler rooms and engine rooms, hacking away at asbestos to remove it, not aware that the dust I was creating would harm me."

"Working alongside laggers who removed and replaced asbestos meant I was exposed to a large amount of asbestos. Sometimes the dust was so bad it was like snow falling.

"But at the time it was quite a normal thing to do, because workers had not been told about the dangers of asbestos."

It was not until 2001 that Mr Gardner started to suffer chest pains which at first revealed scarring to the lining of the lung associated with exposure to asbestos and his condition developed into incurable mesothelioma in late 2004."

Alison Kerr of law firm Russell Jones & Walker which represented Mr Gardner said: "As with many people of his generation, he was not made aware of the risk of working with asbestos until it was too late and he is now paying the full price for that neglect."

"We are pleased to have settled this case so quickly so that Mr Gardner can make full use of his compensation, if he needs to, during his illness."