Former worker wins asbestos compensation from Michelin UK

By David Shaw, ERJ staff report

London-- Michelin UK has been ordered to pay £23 300 (euro 26 000) to a former employee Roy Ibbs, as compensation for exposure to asbestos.  Ibbs, a welder and pipe fitter, was not directly employed in the tyre manufacturing activity.

Barrister Colin McCaul QC, representing Ibbs, said, "the amount that I was seeking on Mr Ibbs' behalf became just over £26,000 following agreement with the other side as to the amount of respiratory disability suffered by Mr Ibbs both in total and as a result of his exposure to asbestos."

Michelin said in a statement, "This case was due to exposure to asbestos more than 25 years ago and was related to the fabric of the building - a problem shared by many other companies at that time." The company continued, "Michelin would like to take this opportunity to reassure anyone working in the tyre industry that asbestos has never been used as a component in the tyre manufacturing process."

McCaul said Ibbs' occupation, "would have put him in the close vicinity of asbestos lagged pipes when the lagging was being stripped off either by him or by others. The same would not be true of those employees who simply worked in the same engineering and maintenance department."

Although the local newspaper, the Staffordshire Sentinel, said the ruling might open the floodgates to further cases among Michelin's employees and former employees, McCaul said that this opinion was attributed to un-named legal experts, adding dryly, " they most certainly do not include myself."

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Michelin worker wins asbestos compensation battle from Staffordshire Sentinel (UK - Stoke on trent)