Asbestos sufferers attend protest

Members of the GMB Union will join colleagues from across the country to demonstrate outside parliament.

It comes after a decision by the Law Lords in October to stop compensation for pleural plaques, a related condition.

It causes scarring of the lungs and can be a forerunner to the fatal asbestosis and mesothelioma.

Members from Liverpool will join others from London, Southampton, Newcastle, Manchester as well as Scotland and Wales.

Asbestos-related disease is the biggest cause of work-related deaths in the UK.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) estimates that 2,000 people will die from Mesothelioma this year.

" Why should employers and insurance companies get away with polluting workers lungs with pleural plaques and not offer any compensation?""
Jimmy Parish GMB Union

Jimmy Parish from the GMB said: "The House of Lords decision that removed pleural plaques compensation for workers not only effects thermal insulation engineers but any worker that has had contact with asbestos from fitters to school teachers."

Dave Kelleher from Orrell Park in Liverpool has pleural plaques after years working in the construction industry.

He said: "These guys are being given a diagnosis of pleural plaques and sometimes they last two to three years but sometimes they last two to three weeks, it depends how it hits them mentally, some people just can't take it.

"They basically think themselves to death, and the decision by the Law Lords to say the mental side of it is nothing, it's an absolute disgrace."

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