Former BR man's asbestos battle

7:48am Friday 6th July 2007

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AN EX-PATRIOT has returned to his home city to step up the campaign to bring justice to victims of York's asbestos timebomb.

Michael Rogan, 65, a former coach-builder at the British Rail Carriageworks, in Holgate Road, said he wanted to speak out to help his ex-colleagues, or their widows, with compensation claims.

Mr Rogan, who moved to Germany in 1979, said he was one of the lucky few not to be suffering from any asbestos-related condition.

He said: "Most of the people I worked with are dead and gone. They should be playing with their grandchildren now, but they're dead.

"I have seen it all with my own eyes - the pain, the suffering and the death - and it makes me feel so angry because it was all unnecessary.

"Every employer has a duty to safeguard the health and safety of its employees in the work environment, but in this instance British Rail was not only neglectful, but irresponsible."

Mr Rogan, an apprentice at York Carriageworks from 1957-62, said he worked in the area where blue asbestos was sprayed onto the inside body of coaches as insulation.

He said: "Particles of asbestos like blue cotton wool got into our mouth, nose, eyes, overalls, underclothing, footwear.

"There were no precautions taken. We had no protective clothing, no masks, no nothing.

"Even the ventilation wasn't improved."

His outcry comes as more than 100 York victims await the decision of a crucial appeal hearing at the House of Lords.

As the law stands, anybody suffering from scarring of the lungs caused by exposure to asbestos - known as pleural plaques - is not able to make a claim because the condition shows no symptoms.

Kim Daniells, a solicitor with the York firm Corries and founder of a support group for York victims of asbestos, said: "These are men who have worked in appalling conditions.

"They have seen their friends and colleagues and family members die of asbestos-related conditions and they are facing an uncertain future themselves.

"They may not have any symptoms at the moment, but the damage to them still needs to be recognised in law and I feel very strongly about this.

"There are well over 100 people in York whose claims are on hold pending the decision."

She said the appeal hearing at the House of Lords finished this week, but the decision had been put on hold until October.