Father dies after asbestos cash joy
John Manniex
A DAD who won a long asbestos disease compensation battle has died from the illness only weeks later.
Former demolition worker John Manniex lived just long enough to savour triumph over his one-time employers following a three-day trial at the Royal Courts of Justice.
But there was little chance for him to enjoy his undisclosed but “substantial” pay-out.
On July 1 the 77-year-old widower from Kent Street, Leigh, succumbed to the mesothelioma he had contracted from exposure to the deadly dust while demolishing prefabricated houses in the late 1960s.
Mr Manniex worked for the demolition company Mee and Cocker (Leigh) Limited, which was based at Peacock Fold in Leigh.
He was employed to demolish prefabricated houses so that the aluminium used in their construction could be reclaimed.
He worked as part of a gang that travelled all over the North West, West Midlands and Wales.
His job involved the demolition of thousands of prefab properties with roofs that were lined with asbestos.
He would also take out the kitchens and he recalled that the built in ovens – something of a novelty at the time – were insulated with asbestos sheeting.
Before his death, Mr Manniex described the conditions: “We used to push the asbestos panels out from the roofs and let them drop to the floor.
“As they dropped they broke up and asbestos dust would be released.We would have that dust around us as we continued to demolish the building.
“Mee & Cocker were merely concerned with the aluminium roofs on the houses. At no stage did they ever warn us of the dangers of the asbestos that we were disturbing.
“We were never given a mask or alerted to the danger to our health.”
But his employer denied that the prefabs contained asbestos.
Their lawyers argued that asbestos was not used in aluminium prefabricated housing.
At the trial, Stanley Mee, a former company director, admitted that he did not know what materials were in the buildings being demolished.
He also said that no checks were made to ensure they didn’t contain asbestos, or precautions taken to protect his workers from asbestos.
He then admitted that the prefab roofs may have been underlined with asbestos.
Only then did Mee and Cocker’s lawyers offer to settle Mr Manniex’s compensation claim.
Steven Dickens, of Thompsons Solicitors, said: “We had a real fight on our hands to succeed in Mr Manniex’s claim.
“The defendant’s insurers were determined not to admit that the aluminium prefabricated houses, which were so widely used after the Second World War, contained asbestos.
“They based these arguments on academic texts.
“As a result they forced a dying man to endure a 12-month legal battle culminating in a trial.
“Mr Manniex felt vindicated when they finally agreed to settle his claim.
“He was also motivated in pursuing it to warn the many other men who worked alongside him demolishing prefabs that they may have been exposed to asbestos.”
He is survived only by a step-daughter who lives in Spain who declined to comment.
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Saturday 04 February 2012
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