Veteran’s death from asbestosis

A SECOND World War veteran who went on to work in the Portishead power stations died as a result of asbestos poisoning, an inquest heard.

Alfred Jenkins had no idea he had deadly asbestos fibres in his lungs until he had a CT scan in 2004, the inquest at Avon Coroner’s Court was told via an earlier court statement prepared by Mr Jenkins before his death.

He died six years later aged 90 at the Bristol Royal Infirmary.

The statement was part of a claim against the successors of the Central Electricity Generating Board who ran the power stations.

Mr Jenkins, of Glebe Avenue in Portishead, was injured during the war and returned home in 1944.

He worked in the mail factory in Portishead before working in maintenance for the Portishead A Power Station for 30 years.

His statement said: “Occasionally I had to remove asbestos lagging myself, however much more commonly I was working alongside laggers who were ripping off asbestos above, to the side and below me.”

The court heard he recalled inhaling large amounts of asbestos dust and that no respiratory protection was provided by his employers. The medical cause of his death was recorded as bronchial pneumonia caused by asbestosis.

Acting coroner Maria Voisin gave a verdict of industrial disease at the court in Flax Bourton.