A car engine firm where employees were found to be suffering lung disease is not being prosecuted, the Health and Safety Executive has stated.

Experts launched an investigation in 2004 following ill health amongst staff at the Power Train Plant in Longbridge in Birmingham. 101 employees at the plant suffered from lung complaints.

Power Train was run by Phoenix Venture Holdings which went into administration when MG Rover collapsed in April of 2005.

The Health and Safety Executive has said it was thought to be the largest outbreak of occupational asthma linked to metal working fluids in the world.

Workers at the car engine factory were advised in 2004 to wear face masks after a large number of cases of occupational lung disease were discovered.

The illnesses were first detected at the end of 2003 when the Birmingham Chest Clinic noticed a significant number of workers coming to them suffering from extrinsic allergic alveolitis (EAA), an inflammatory disease affecting the lungs.

A survey found that 84 workers had contracted occupational asthma and 24 had EAA.

Some workers were suffering from both conditions. Some of the workers were said to be severely disabled – very breathless even with minimum exertion.

Some needed high doses of steroids. Most staff have found new jobs but some have been so badly affected they can no longer work.