We can help you claim
compensation following an accident
illness or injury - nationwide
Call: 0800 10 757 95
The workplace has seen many changes in recent years as vital laws are passed to protect the rights and safety of employees.
Long since gone, in Scotland at least, are the days when weavers lost their hands in looms, young children became horribly trapped in chimneys and men suffocated deep underground in airless mines.
The rise of trade union power and increased media coverage has led to legislation being introduced to reduce the number of work accidents that occur, and there is no doubt that today's workplace is generally safer than ever before.
But the days of a seriously dangerous work environment aren't as distant as one might think. The awful effects of things that employees were exposed to as recently as the 1960s and 70s are still being felt today and will continue to do so for many years to come.
What we're talking about is asbestos, that highly dangerous substance that was commonly used in a range of products including ceiling tiles, brake pads and fire blankets and is now known to have contributed to a massive number of deaths worldwide.
Nowhere has asbestos had a more hard-hitting and deadly effect than in Scotland. The nation's docks and ports unloaded tens of thousands of tons of the stuff during the twentieth century, it was used on countless building sites across the country and factory workers throughout Scotland handled it on a daily basis.
And it is only in the past few years that the tragic effects of this legacy have begun to show through to full and heartbreaking effect.
Scotland goes to war
One family that knows only too well how devastating the effects of asbestos exposure can be are the Muirs from a small village in Invernesshire. For generations they've lived at the foot of Ben Nevis, among the lush green countryside and a whole world away from the dangers of industrial diseases such as asbestosis.
In 1917, 18-year-old Thomas Muir answered his country's call and went off to fight the Germans in the Belgian mud of Passchendaele, losing many close friends but returning home alive after being badly gassed during the fighting.
The fresh Highland air did the youngster's damaged lungs the world of good and he tried to forget about the horrors of the war, settling down to work and raise a family. He married a local girl and was soon the proud father of two boys, Michael and William.
It wasn't long, however, before the 1939 outbreak of war once again shattered the peaceful life of the Muir family and Michael, Thomas' eldest son at 18, joined the Navy and shipped out to fight on the seas. 13-year-old William, the younger brother, was still at school and so stayed behind to finish his studies.
Exposure to asbestos
A year later, with school complete and desperate for a bit of adventure, William persuaded his father to let him move to Glasgow to stay with a distant uncle who worked on the docks. He managed to get a job as an apprentice and began working on Clydebank, fitting out the warships that would take Britain's fight to the Nazis.
It was during this time that he was frequently exposed to the asbestos that was used for the insulation of onboard pipes and walls. However, at the time nobody knew how harmful it could be. In later years he told his children how he'd often return home to his uncle's house in the evening and his clothes would be caked with white dust. But neither he, nor anybody else, thought anything of it.
William stayed in Glasgow working on the ships for most of the war, surviving heavy bombing in 1941, before following his elder brother into the Navy in 1944.
With the war over and his discharge papers in hand, he followed in his father's footsteps and returned back to his family's village and settled down for a quiet life, working the land and raising a family. He married Rose, a pretty local girl, and the couple had four daughters in the 1950s; Iona, Ann, Moira and Caroline.
All was good for the Muir family for many years and the girls grew up, left home and in the early 1990s the ageing William hung up his Wellington boots and retired to spend time with his wife and their dogs. The couple spent their days walking in the nearby hills, tending their garden and looking after an ever increasing brood of grandchildren.
In August 2001, experiencing chest pains and a cough that wouldn't budge, William made an appointment to see his GP. The doctor couldn't find any reason for his symptoms and so referred him to a specialist who took X-rays and undertook a detailed examination. A week later the specialist asked William to come in to discuss his results
It was a day that would change the life of the Muir family forever.
Deadly consequences revealed
There was no subtle way for the specialist to put it; William had mesothelioma, an asbestos-related cancer of the lung. It was most likely caused, the specialist said, by William's time working with asbestos on the Glasgow docks. And so far advanced was the industrial disease that there was nothing the doctors could do but William was told there had been cases of sufferers in his state surviving for up to a year.
William didn't make a year, however. He didn't even make six months. He died on Christmas Day, 2001, his beloved family around him and Rose's hand in his.
More than 400 people turned up for his funeral, a testament to the wonderful man that he had been. He had touched so many lives and there was no doubt the world was going to be a poorer place without him. He was buried alongside his father and grandfather, deep in the Invernesshire countryside and in the shadow of the towering beauty of Ben Nevis.
Two months to the day after William's death, on what would have been his birthday, his heartbroken wife, Rose, passed away. The doctors said it was caused by a severe stroke but her family blamed it on a broken heart.
"I think she died inside the day Dad passed away," daughter Moira said. "Those two were inseparable and I guess she just didn't want to be around anymore if he wasn't here to share her life and make her smile."
Making a personal injury compensation claim
It wasn't long after their mum's death that the girls started thinking about the possibility of making a personal injury compensation claim against the company that their father worked for during the war. The specialist who had seen him before he died was almost certain that his mesothelioma was caused by the asbestos he had inhaled whilst fitting out battleships and so they searched around for someone who could help.
Money was fairly tight and so they didn't want to have to fork out any solicitors' fees or legal costs in case their claim proved to be unsuccessful. They decided, therefore, to make their claim through a no win, no fee company that wouldn't, under any circumstances, charge them a single penny.
Using the internet, they came across YouClaim and were impressed with the service that was on offer, especially the lack of charges and the promise that the client could keep 100% of any compensation awarded. They had a look at a few other compensation claim firms but none were able to offer what YouClaim promised, and so Caroline, the youngest daughter, gave them a call.
Understandably, she was a bit apprehensive about discussing such a sensitive subject but Natasha, the woman who took her call was totally sympathetic, enormously friendly and showed a highly professional manner at all times.
Absolutely no costs or fees
Caroline asked if YouClaim's promise of not asking their clients to pay a single penny was actually true and she was assured that it was. Satisfied that everything really was as good as it sounded, she explained the tragic consequences of her father's time working with asbestos and asked YouClaim to help her make a compensation claim.
Natasha told Caroline that she would speak to a specialist solicitor to discuss the case and would then ring back. That very afternoon Caroline received a call confirming that a personal injury solicitor on YouClaim's panel would take the case on and that they wouldn't charge the Muirs a single penny for doing so.
The solicitor that agreed to help Caroline and her sisters was based in Fort William and had worked with people making industrial disease claims since the mid 1980s. He was an expert in asbestos-related disease cases and had won his clients millions of pounds in personal injury compensation.
On this occasion, because he was working on behalf of one of YouClaim's customers, he would not be charging Caroline a thing. Instead, his fees would be claimed back from the insurance company of the party responsible for causing her father's mesothelioma and, in the event that the claim was unsuccessful, the solicitor's costs would be covered by an insurance policy he already taken out.
Compensation claim gets underway
The solicitor took details from Caroline about her father's working career and then went off on his own to research the case. He discovered that the company which William had worked for during the war had been bought out and was now based in London. This didn't matter because they had inherited the responsibility of not providing William with a safe working environment and were notified by Caroline's solicitor that a compensation claim was being made against them.
At first they denied any liability for the mesothelioma that their former employee had contracted, but as the date for a court hearing grew nearer and the evidence against them piled higher and higher, they offered Caroline a settlement.
Not wanting the negative media attention that a lengthy court case could bring, and realising that the odds were stacked against them, the shipping firm's insurance company made Caroline an offer of 12,000. She accepted and a cheque arrived through the post only a few weeks later.
"My dad was a hero"
Speaking after the settlement was made, Caroline's solicitor told YouClaim, "£12,000 might not seem like much compensation for somebody's death, but you've got to remember that William was in his mid seventies.
"I've dealt with cases in the past where the deceased has been in their fifties and so has had dependants who rely on their living for their survival, a wife and children for example, and you regularly see awards of over £100,000 in circumstances such as this."
"But as the Muir family will tell you, the compensation claim against William's former employers wasn't about the money; it was about much more than that.
"It was about showing Scotland, and indeed the rest of the world, that the welfare of workers cannot be put at risk, no matter what the reasons. It was also about the company responsible for this elderly and innocent man's terrible death being held accountable for what they'd done."
"My dad was a hero," Caroline said.
"As soon as he was old enough he was out on the ocean fighting for his King, and even when he wasn't old enough he was there in the shipyards doing his bit.
"But the sad thing is that while he was doing all he could for his country, his country wasn't doing right by him. He was, in all reality, killed by the nation that he was protecting and, no matter how much money we receive in compensation, that's something that can never be changed."
You too could make an asbestos compensation claim
Justice came too late for William Muir but thanks to a little help from YouClaim his family have been able to come to the aid of others who have suffered the way that he did.
They used the money from the successful compensation claim to set up a charity offering support and advice to those affected by mesothelioma, asbestos and various other industrial illnesses. Today the charity goes from strength to strength, helping those in need and providing a shoulder to lean on when times simply get too tough to bear.
If you or a family member has suffered because of asbestos, YouClaim could help you make a claim for the compensation that you rightly deserve.
You won't be charged a single penny at any time and, just like William's family, you can keep 100% of any money that is awarded.
So if you think YouClaim could help, just as they've helped hundreds suffering from industrial diseases caused by harmful asbestos fibres throughout Scotland, make contact with them today. You can chat online from the comfort of your home or office computer, you can request a call back at a time that’s more convenient or you can pick up the phone and call YouClaim 24 hours a day on 0800 10 757 95. It could be the most important phone call you will ever make so get in touch right now to set your personal injury compensation claim in motion.
