Fazeley firm asbestos damages payout to dead worker

A FORMER worker at a Fazeley foundry who won damages after he and his brother were struck down with lung disease, claims that scores of his ex-workmates could still be affected by asbestos once used at the site.

Fazeley-born Robert Spencer, who now lives in Australia, and his younger brother David, both worked as forklift truck drivers at Foseco in Coleshill Road, Fazeley, in the 1960s.

Mr Spencer says he and his colleagues would huddle round rolls of asbestos as they enjoyed their tea breaks – completely oblivious to the danger it posed.

He later developed a serious lung condition known as 'pleural thickening'.

Younger brother David was diagnosed with mesothelioma – a particularly deadly cancer caused by exposure to the asbestos fibres.

A third brother, Frank, also worked at Foseco, but has no signs of the illness, although it can lie dormant for up to 50 years. David sadly died of the disease in 2004.

David's estate has subsequently been awarded £154,000 in damages secured by Tamworth-based Rutherford's Solicitors after the Freedom of Information Act was used to prove that Foseco had used asbestos.

Now Robert Spencer, who has been awarded undisclosed provisional damages for the harm caused to his lungs, says he hopes his family's fight for justice will encourage others in a similar situation.

Hundreds of Tamworth men and women were employed by the Fazeley firm back in the 1960s.

Robert said: "I remember the asbestos really clearly – it was all rolled up in a store room and there it would be kept before being made into slurry.

"Nobody had any idea that it was harmful and we used to use the store room for our tea breaks to keep warm.

"It's strange to think that something so seemingly innocuous could cause so much heartbreak after all these years.

"My worry is that if David and I were affected so badly, there's bound to be some of our former friends and colleagues in the same situation".

Since being diagnosed in 2006, Mr Spencer, 68, has struggled with shortness of breath – leaving him unable to walk far.

He said: "If you are suffering from this awful disease it's never going to get better, it's only going to get worse and you need to take steps to find out exactly what has caused it.

"Companies are not going to step forward and admit they used asbestos so my advice to people who are suffering from an asbestos-related disease is that if you want justice you have to fight for it yourself."

Recalling their emotional last meeting Robert said: "The last time I saw my brother David he was just a bag of bones – it was completely heartbreaking.

"When I found out about my condition it was all the more scary because I had already seen the devastating effects it had had on a man who although was already 60, was still fit and muscular.

"Since my settlement, which also provides for me to go back to court should I later develop cancer, it's like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders".

David Dickie of Rutherfords Solicitors, represented the Spencer brothers.

He said: "One of the most tragic things about mesothelioma is that by its very nature it generally tends to strike those who have spent their lives working hard."

A spokesman for Foseco said: "The company is naturally concerned for the wellbeing of its employees past and present, however, as a policy we are not able to comment publicly on individual cases or issues."

● At least three other former Foseco workers have already been awarded compensation for ill-health caused by exposure to asbestos at the factory.