Almost 200 people are seeking compensation for asbestos-related illnesses contracted in Oxfordshire's factories in what their solicitor calls a health time bomb.

Many worked at Oxford's Cowley car factory, at the UK Atomic Energy Authority site at Harwell, near Didcot, or are relatives of dead staff - while this year there have been inquests into the deaths of two women who inhaled deadly asbestos dust while washing their husbands' work clothes.

Oxfordshire coroner Nicholas Gardiner has forecast an increase in deaths over coming years, while industrial disease claims solicitor Peter Lodge said: "It's a potential time bomb."

Deadly asbestos fibres can lie dormant in the lungs for 30 years or more. More than 3,000 people a year die of asbestos-related diseases in the UK and that number could rise to 10,000 annually by 2020, says the Health & Safety Executive.

Mr Lodge said he knew of about 200 cases on behalf of factory workers, with 50 involving ex-employees at the Cowley car plant.

Mr Lodge, of Cheltenham law firm BPE, said: "Everybody who worked with asbestos has got it in their system. The only issue is whether it comes out and develops. It's very worrying."

Assistant deputy coroner Dr Richard Whittington echoed Mr Lodge's concerns.

He said: "Sadly, I have dealt with many inquests for people who have died as a consequence of asbestos exposure at a time when they were ignorant of the potential danger.

"I can remember as a young man myself many pipes had lagging of asbestos. We, as boys, used to pull it off. We thought it was great fun."

Mr Lodge said claims were being pursued against BMW, which took on the liabilities of Cowley's former owners, and UKAEA and some smaller companies. One of his claims is for the family of Terrence Oliver, from Stonesfield, who died of the asbestos-related cancer mesothelioma last month.

He said: "In Oxfordshire we have probably got between 150 and 200 claims from both families and victims, and I'm dealing with most of them. I would say this is quite a high figure compared with other areas."

Peter Garland, BMW's Cowley plant safety and environment manager, said: "The historical claims are difficult, but BMW is keen to be as helpful as possible to former workers. It gets very hard to track down old insurers."

Andy Munn, a UKAEA spokesman, said: "Each claim is dealt with on a case-by-case basis."

Mr Gardiner, who covers about 10 industrial disease inquests a year, said: "I'm afraid we will get an increasing number for a few years yet. After that it will probably drop quite sharply."

CASE ONE: A car worker whose former wife died after washing his asbestos-covered work clothes fears he is living with a question mark over his life.

James Lawson, 55, is terrified he will be struck down with mesothelioma, an asbestos-related disease which killed his former wife Sylvia Benton.

Mrs Benton, who divorced Mr Lawson in 1994, died in February, aged 63, after she developed a cancerous tumour.

The college cleaner used to shake out and hand wash her Mr Lwson's overalls, which became contaminated with asbestos when he worked at the Cowley plant in Oxford Mr Lawson, of Plowman Tower, Headington, Oxford, worked at the then British Leyland factory between 1972 and 1993.

He said: "I have got a question mark over me, but I have got to make the most of my life. "It's like having a time bomb. I worry that something is growing inside me. I try to put it behind me, but even my best friend died of it (asbestos-related disease) last year.

"I'm scared, because of what she (Sylvia) went through."

Mr Lawson has been to his GP for tests, but so far has been given the all-clear.

But he said he was not given any protective clothing while at the plant and the building in which he worked was eventually shut down for three years because of asbestos contamination.

Mr Lawson said: "I always had an sore eyes and an itchy nose, but we didn't know about the dangers at the time.

"I can't think of any other reason why Sylvia was exposed to asbestos. Nobody was aware of the potential danger. I could have it (cancer) too, for all I know."

His comments come after an inquest at Oxford Coroner's Court last week into Mrs Benton's death.

A written statement by Mrs Benton, of Watson Crescent, Wootton, near Abingdon, dated January 27, 2005, was read out at the inquest.

She said: "When my ex-husband was working at the plant he would come home and his overalls were covered in dust.

"I would shake them before washing them and large amounts of dust would come off them.

"He had not been made aware of the dangers of working with asbestos and I was never made aware of it either."

Assistant deputy coroner Dr Richard Whittington recorded a verdict that Mrs Benton died from an industrial disease.

CASE TWO: Former car worker Terrence Oliver was diagnosed with mesothelioma in January and died two months later.

Mr Oliver, 67, came into contact with asbestos between 1959 and 1966, when he worked at what was then Morris Motors' factory in Cowley, Oxford.

The antiques dealer, of Church Fields, Stonesfield, started feeling breathless last December and was diagnosed with the terminal disease weeks later. He died on March 6.

Pathologist Dr Elizabeth Soilleux said that Mr Oliver died of mesothelioma as a result of exposure to asbestos.

Assistant deputy coroner Dr Richard Whittington recorded a verdict of death by industrial disease at an inquest into Mr Oliver's death yesterday.

He said: "It's a terrible condition. It's a very poor reward for a lifetime of hard work."