Payout hope for York asbestos victims (From York Press)

Payout hope for York asbestos victims

8:24am Tuesday 24th November 2009

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THOUSANDS of York people who were exposed to asbestos may find out tomorrow whether compensation for a condition caused by the deadly dust will be restored.

The York Asbestos Support Group has been campaigning for the past two years for ministers to overturn a Law Lords ruling which blocked payouts from insurance firms to people with pleural plaques – scarring of the lungs.

The Lords said victims should not get compensation unless or until they developed full-blown diseases such as the cancer mesothelioma, but the group has strongly argued that the decision should be reversed by the Government.

Government lawyers are reportedly meeting tomorrow to determine whether the compensation can be restored, although a Ministry of Justice spokeswoman said: “We don’t comment on private meetings.”

Spokeswoman Kim Daniells says that over the years, hundreds of York people may be affected by pleural plaques and hit by the ruling.

Many asbestos victims are former York Carriageworks employees, who suffered widespread exposure to the dust at the factory in Holgate Road.

Ms Daniells said the plaque awards had always been quite limited in scale, but they had proved an effective way for victims to safeguard future claims if they went on to develop more serious conditions such as the fatal cancer, mesothelioma.

If this happened, they could revive the claim and recover additional compensation quite swiftly, she said.

MP Andrew Dismore has been attempting to get a Private Members’ Bill through Parliament to reverse the Lords’ decision, which he has branded a ‘manifest injustice,’ but has so far been unsuccesful.

Paul Cooper, a former carriageworks employee who has seen many former colleagues die from mesothelioma and campaigns for justice for asbestos victims, said it was important for compensation to be paid again.

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