Dockworker wins £25k compensation in asbestos case

A dockworker from Scarisbick, Southport, has won a provisional sum of compensation after contracting diffuse pleural thickening while working during the 1950s and 1960s.

Robert Thompson, 67, took asbestos from ships in Liverpool as part of his job and took legal action after discovering that he had the disease, the Southport Visiter reports.

He joined forces with Winifred Rice, the widow of a dockworker from Ormskirk who also contracted an asbestos-related disease, to get the government to take responsibility for the National Dock Labour Board (NDLB), which managed the docks at the time of their working there.

While the government fought the case even after the High Court said in 2006 that it had a duty of care to the claimants, damages were awarded last week.

These damages against the Department of Business and Enterprise were held to be £25,329 for Mr Thompson and £138,965.65 for Mrs Rice.

Mr Justice Silber said he was "quite satisfied" that if the NDLB had followed its duty of care to Mr Thompson, his asbestos exposure could have been avoided or at least significantly reduced.