Cancer sufferer's compensation (From Bucks Free Press)

Cancer sufferer's compensation

9:19am Friday 9th March 2007 in News

A CAR mechanic has won £300,000 compensation from his former employers after he contracted lung cancer while working on cars with asbestos break pads.

Jonathan Hutchinson, 50, from Valley Road, Hughenden Valley, was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2003.

He underwent an operation in 2004 where one of his lungs was removed. He is now in decent health but the operation is not a cure and the cancer is likely to return.

Jonathan worked as a garage mechanic for a range of firms in the 1970s and 1980s and stripped out brake pads which contained asbestos dust. He worked for Wilcox and Co, a large coach building firm and this was the main firm involved in the out of court settlement.

The payout has secured his family's future after he was forced to stop working.

His wife, Julie, 50, is a learning support assistant at Holmer Green Senior School in High Wycombe.

“I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly it was resolved. I could have ended up with nothing."

Jonathan Hutchison

Since his illness, Jonathan visits the Sunflower Club every fortnight at Stoke Mandeville Hospital.

Jonathan, a father to Jack, 20 and Laura, 18, said: "I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly it was resolved. I could have ended up with nothing. It has made a significant difference to my family.

"I can send my son Jack to do an MA at Nottingham University and my daughter Laura to study Psychology at Nottingham.

"I have discovered the joys of gardening and the club has given me a great deal of satisfaction. Everyone who goes there gets a great deal of satisfaction from it.

"I hope that other people who suffer terminal illness can find a way to deal with it. Perhaps seeing that I received radical surgery will encourage them and give them some comfort."

Andrew Stinchcombe, his solicitor, said: "This case was unusual, but am sure that it will not be unique. Like Mr Hutchinson, mechanics that serviced and repaired brakes and clutches during the time asbestos components were used risked heavy exposure to the fatal dust.

"Once released into the air the asbestos dust would linger in the shop and the mechanics were highly likely to breath in the asbestos fibres. Also the mechanics would often get the asbestos dust on their hands, so there was a danger of them swallowing particles when eating."

Simon Cradick, a solicitor at Morgan Cole who represented all the companies involved, refused to comment on behalf of those involved in the settlement.

These were Wilcox and Co, Lower Road, Chalfont St Peters, Maytone V Ltd (formerly Boyne Hill garage) in Maidenhead and 205 Ltd (formerly Lex Motor). The companies did not accept liability despite the settlement.