Ex-RAF man worked in a 'fog' of asbestos, inquest hears

A FORMER RAF serviceman died due to an industrial disease he contracted while working for the National Coal Board, a coroner ruled.

In a statement he wrote before he passed away, Derrick Copeland recalled there was so much asbestos in the air at his workshop in the 1960s it was “difficult to see” and resembled a “fog”, Winchester Coroners’ Court heard.

Having joined the National Coal Board (NCB) in the 1950s, he became the workshop manager at its base in Ansley, Nuneaton.

Mr Copeland described how the roof and five huge workshop bays were coated in blue asbestos. But “large chunks” fell from the roof and released asbestos into the air.

Mr Copeland also recalled how in 1974 the asbestos was removed, releasing a lot of dust into the air.

The inquest was told Mr Copeland, who was 90, was diagnosed with mesothelioma in April last year following a visit to Royal Bournemouth Hospital.

He was told it was incurable and eventually discharged to spend time at his home in Badgers Copse, New Milton, with his wife Joyce, to whom he had been married since October 1948. He died in Lymington New Forest Hospital on 27th May.

Coroner Jason Pegg said Mr Copeland was a “hard working man” who loved going on holidays and cruises with his wife. He had left school at 16 and worked for an engineering firm in Stoke-on-Trent before doing his national service in the RAF – where he was promoted to leading aircraftsman.

The coroner determined the cause of Mr Copeland’s death as industrial disease as a result of him being exposed to “substantial quantities” of asbestos while working for the NCB.