Compensation claims ‘must be restored for pleural plaque victims’

Posted 30/11/2009

Pleural plaque victims should once again be given the right to make compensation claims from their employer, an MP has told the House of Commons.

Jarrow member Stephen Hepburn has addressed the house to decry the “disgraceful and unjust” Lords ruling of 2007 which prohibits those suffering from the -related condition from taking legal action, reports the Evening Chronicle.

He stated that those afflicted with pleural plaques are 1,000 times more likely to contract the fatal lung cancer mesothelioma.

Mr Hepburn therefore vowed to continue to the campaign to restore the right to compensation for these workers, as will other members.

He said it was vital that “pleural plaques sufferers, both now and in the future, have the rightful compensation they enjoyed for so long”.

Earlier this month, MP David Blaydon told the newspaper that he will also be continuing to push for a legal change on this matter despite parliament’s recent failure to ratify a related private member’s bill.