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Palace Widow Gets Asbestos Payout
10th May 2005
The widow of a man who died after exposure to asbestos at Buckingham Palace has been awarded nearly £180,000 in compensation by the High Court.
Mary Costello's husband John 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 Mrs Costello said a breach of duty of care has been admitted by the Crown's solicitors. On Wednesday the High Court awarded her £177,901.
Mrs Costello, 59, was seeking 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.
"John loved his job but we never realised that it would eventually kill him," she said .
Her husband's job included repairing boilers in the palace.
"He would have to remove the old asbestos packing and replace it with new asbestos," said Mrs Costello's lawyer Frances McCarthy.
"He also 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.
"Unfortunately, Mr Costello was never provided with any protective mask of any kind, contrary to legal guidelines, and he did not receive any warnings that the working conditions could cause injury," Ms McCarthy said.
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."
© BBC News – Story Filed 9th May 2005
Asbestos Claim Advice
If you or a member of your family has been affected by an illness caused by exposure to asbestos, such as pleural thickening, asbestosis, mesothelioma or lung cancer, you may be entitled to claim personal injury compensation.
Contact The Legal Line for cost free, confidential advice and assistance on 0800 0328511, or by completing a claim enquiry form online.
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