Oldham cancer sufferer launches High Court damages claim against council and Ferranti

Mr Richardson worked at the Ferranti site at the Cairo Mill

Oldham man Frederick Richardson has launched a legal battle at London’s High Court for compensation of more than £200,000.

Mr Richardson, now aged 75, is seeking compensation from from his former employers Oldham Metropolitian Borough Council and Ferranti International plc, accusing them of negligently exposing him to deadly asbestos dusts and fibres.

A writ issued at London’s High Court and recently made public says that as a result, he has developed malignant mesothelioma, a terminal cancer affecting the lining of his lungs.

The court papers say Mr Richardson, has endure various medical procedures as well as radiotherapy and chemotherapy, but that the prognosis is that he will suffer increasing breathlessness, chest pain, debility and dependence on others for the rest of his life.

He says in the documents that he was exposed to asbestos when he worked for the council as a joiner on various sites around Oldham between 1960 and 1969 and that he was also exposed to the dangerous substance when he worked for Ferranti as a maintenance joiner and then foreman between 1970 and 1992 at factories Avenue Works, Crown Works and Cairo Mill.

He says he worked extensively with asbestos for the council, using a circular saw to cut and mitre asbestos sheets for a new roof, and using asbestos insulation boards for boiler cupboards, soffits and ceiling tiles, all of which had to be handled, cut, drilled and fitted, raising significant amounts of asbestos into his breathing zone.

His work is said to have included replacing guttering on council houses and refitting brackets around flue pipes, which meant he had to drill into asbestos, and at the end of the job he had to sweep up, raising more asbestos fibres and dust into the air which he inhaled.

At Ferranti, he is said to have worked alongside other tradesman as they stripped asbestos insulation from pipework to carry out maintenance, repair or alterations, and close to others to reapplied asbestos insulation to pipework.

At first, this involved men mixing dry asbestos fibres with water to form a paste applied to pipework, a very dusty process, but later this was replaced with preformed sections of asbestos insulation, he says.

He also often had to clamber over pipework lagged with asbestos, which is said to have released significant amounts of asbestos fibres and dust.

He accuses both the council and company of negligently exposing him to asbestos when they knew it was potentially harmful, failing to protect him from asbestos, failing to warn him of the risk to his health, and failing to provide a safe workplace.

He first noticed breathlessness and a cough in January, 2020, followed by chest pain, and had to stop work in February.

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