Coroner lines up evidence on York carriageworks deaths

3:59pm Thursday 3rd January 2008

ANOTHER wave of inquests is set to be held this year into alleged victims of York's asbestos timebomb.

Nearly 100 former workers at York Carriageworks have already died from asbestos-related illnesses such as mesothelioma, and yet more inquests are set to be held in 2008.

Coroner's officer George Rawlings said a precise number was not available, but said there were a number of asbestos-related hearings waiting to takemplace.

Among them is the inquest into 81-year-old Roy Anderson. Mr Anderson spent 45 years at the Holgate Road site before retiring in 1986. He died last November, and believed his ill-health may have been linked to exposure to asbestos.

His cause of death was initially given as pulmonary fibrosis, but that has since been changed to also include bronchial pneumonia and an inquest will be held later this year.

Mr Anderson worked for two years in the building shop, which was known as one of the areas most affected by asbestos. He spent most of the rest of his career as a fitter in the tool room.

The matter has been taken up by campaigner Paul Cooper, a former union leader at the carriageworks, who met with Mr Anderson before his death.

He said: "I got involved because Roy had asked his wife to get me to visit. I went and had a chat with him."

Mr Anderson's widow Joyce, who lives in Acomb, said that during the time that her husband had been ill in hospital, he became increasingly certain that asbestos must be a factor.

The asbestos scandal at York Carriageworks first came to light more than 25 years ago, after the then Yorkshire Evening Press highlighted the rising number of cases of mesothelioma in former workers.

Workers were widely exposed to asbestos from the 1950s onwards, unaware of the dangers.

Some told afterwards how they threw clumps of asbestos around like snowballs.

Mesothelioma is a cancer that can develop many decades after exposure to asbestos dust. The number of cases nationwide is still rising.

Mr Cooper won a York Community Pride award in 2005 for his work on behalf of former colleagues and their families.