A FORMER car plant worker died of mesothelioma from asbestos exposure, a coroner has ruled.

Martin Cross, 70, of Falstaff Close in Eynsham, was diagnosed with the fatal disease in July 2013 and died at Sobell House Hospice in Oxford on September 3, 2014, Oxfordshire Coroner’s Court heard on Tuesday.

His is one of at least eight cases of mesothelioma in Oxfordshire reported in the Oxford Mail this year.

The inquest heard that Mr Cross, who was born in Headington, worked at the Cowley car plant from 1968 until 1992.

Our top stories

In a witness statement made in November 2013 he said service pipes at the car plant “were all lined with asbestos”.

“I remember seeing dust particles in the air. Colleagues and I would have breathed it in.”

Mr Cross also recalled cleaning tunnels that contained asbestos.

Consultant in respiratory medicine Dr Najib Rahman said in a statement Mr Cross had contracted mesothelioma. Coroner Darren Salter said: “I’m satisfied on the evidence available to me that Mr Cross was exposed to asbestos during his working life at Oxford as a factory assembly worker from the 1960s until about the 1980s. My conclusion is, therefore, industrial disease.”

Mini spokeswoman Rebecca Baxter said: “BMW Group took over Plant Oxford in 1994. Almost all of the asbestos exposures took place before this date.

“As the current owner of the plant as much as possible has been done by the company to make sure that the insurance companies of the site’s previous owners receive any claims as quickly as possible and will continue to do so.”

BMW acquired the Oxford car plant from Rover. British Leyland owned the plant from 1967 to 1986.

The Health and Safety Executive has previously said it expects asbestos-related deaths in Oxfordshire to peak between 2015 and 2020, in line with other parts of the UK. Mesothelioma typically has a 30 to 40-year delay after exposure to asbestos.

Legal firms bringing compensation claims say they have seen a rise in cases from Oxfordshire.

This includes people who worked at the Cowley car plant, Didcot Power Station and Harwell’s atomic energy plant between the 1950s and 1970s, as asbestos was prevalent in industrial buildings.

Peter Lodge, a disease specialist at Festival Law, in Cheltenham, said after the hearing: “It is widely accepted that asbestos was used at that plant.

“Clearly the employees were never made aware of the risks associated with such exposure in those years.”

  • Do you want alerts delivered straight to your phone via our WhatsApp service? Text NEWS or SPORT or NEWS AND SPORT, depending on which services you want, and your full name to 07767 417704. Save our number into your phone’s contacts as Oxford Mail WhatsApp and ensure you have WhatsApp installed.