Palace widow gets asbestos claim payout

The widow of a man who died after exposure to asbestos at Buckingham Palace has been awarded nearly £180,000 following a successful asbestos claim in the High Court.

The lady's husband died aged 58 in September 2001 of mesothelioma, an asbestos-related cancer. He had worked as a maintenance worker at the palace from 1970 to 1992.

Lawyers for claimant said a breach of duty of care has been admitted by the Crown's solicitors. On Wednesday the High Court awarded her £177,901.

The widow was pursuing an asbestos claim for compensation to cover the cost of her husband's care and loss of earnings as she had to give up work as a child minder to care for him at home.

Frances McCarthy, the claimant's solicitor, said:

"He worked on pipes, which were all lagged with asbestos which sometimes flaked off, and in air ducts where he would also be exposed to asbestos."

A project to remove all the asbestos in the palace, starting with the boilers, took five years in the early 1980s.

She warned: "It is now feared that more people who worked at the palace in the 1970s and 1980s could be suffering from similar illnesses as at least one further palace worker has died from an asbestos disease." This could mean further asbestos claim cases in the future.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk

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