Ernie White began working with asbestos as a lagger's mate for Falcon Insulations at the Lancaster Gate Hotel in West London in 1967. He was 18.

"I mixed asbestos by pouring it out of bags into a big tub," he later told lawyers. "I poured water into the tub and mixed it up with my hands, leaning over the tub.

"Then I scooped out the asbestos mix into a bucket and took it to where the laggers were working." He cut up asbestos slabs with a handsaw and swept up asbestos waste into bags.

"Falcon did not take any precautions against asbestos," he said in a statement to court. "They didn't supply me with a mask or warn me that it was dangerous."

Over the following years, Ernie, from Barking, East London, did similar jobs for London Covering Co, Thermac Insulations, Boiler Insulation and Chemical Co. He claimed that no one told him of the dangers even though regulations were tightened in 1968. Throughout the 70s, Ernie worked for Essex Insulations, stripping old asbestos from power stations.

"After I'd worked for Essex for a few years, they started giving us little rubber masks," he said. "They were OK but they didn't always have replacement filters." In 1999, he went to the doctor with chest pains. Ernie thought he was healthy.

He stopped smoking aged 24 and had never been seriously ill. Scans revealed he had pleural plaques but they were considered "minor" and didn't affect his ability to work.

He was told he had a three per cent chance of developing lung cancer and a six per cent chance of mesothelioma. One lung cancer specialist predicted Ernie's life expectancy would be cut by two years to 78 or 79 and he should be able to work to retirement.

On that basis, Ernie took a "full and final" settlement of £17,500. Six years later he died after a short battle with mesothelioma , aged 57. "He went back to work after he was diagnosed," said Jimmy. "He had to pay the mortgage."