Railman was covered in asbestos on work days, inquest is told

A BRITISH Rail apprentice who was "covered" in asbestos dust during his work died as a result of exposure to the toxic material.

John Bradley spent five years fitting and finishing coaches for the firm in Derby after leaving school in the 1960s, his inquest was told.

Derby and South Derbyshire Coroner's Court heard how he would create partitions for coach toilets that had been sprayed with asbestos.

In a statement signed before his death and read out in court, Mr Bradley, of Belper, recalled seeing asbestos dust in the air. He was not told to wear a mask.

The statement said: "As part of my work, I used an air-powered drill which caused the asbestos dust to be blown into the air.

"We were not provided with any masks while we carried out this work. We were provided with overalls, but these would end up covered in asbestos dust."

The court heard how Mr Bradley, of Beaurepaire Crescent, first complained of shortness of breath in January 2008.

He made an appointment with his doctor the following week and was prescribed tablets.

But the symptoms continued and he was sent for X-rays at Royal Derby Hospital, then called Derby City General Hospital.

Mr Bradley's problems remained and he underwent a CT scan and ultrasound before being told by a consultant in Nottingham he was suffering from malignant mesothelioma, a form of cancer linked to asbestos exposure. He instructed solicitors who successfully claimed an undisclosed out-of-court settlement for him.

On July 29 this year, after fighting the disease for 15 months, Mr Bradley passed away at home, aged 61.

A postmortem examination found a tumour in Mr Bradley's right chest wall that had spread to part of his left lung.

Dr Rahul Deb, who carried out the examination, found "fairly visible asbestos fibres" and gave the cause of death as malignant mesothelioma.

Speaking in court, Mr Bradley's wife, Cynthia Bradley, said her husband often spoke about fellow British Rail workers who had also died from the disease.

Mrs Bradley, a retired school supervisor, said: "Over the last few years he told me about men he had worked with that had contracted the same disease that he ultimately died from."

Paul McCandless, assistant deputy coroner for Derby and South Derbyshire, said he was satisfied from the evidence he had heard that Mr Bradley died from industrial disease.

He said: "There was exposure to asbestos fibres."