IT is obviously a great shock and worry for the hundreds of tenants of former council houses in East Lancashire whose homes have been found to be riddled with deadly asbestos.

Now, residents of more than 100 contaminated houses on Blackburn's Delph Lane estate face being moved out for up to eight weeks as their landlord, Twin Valley Homes, begins a £2.8million drive to rid their homes of the dangerous material.

As well as having this upheaval, they are bound to be concerned for their health.

And while Twin Valley Homes, which took over the town's council houses two years ago, is moving swiftly to remedy their homes, worried residents, who claim to have been offered no advice about the effects of exposure to asbestos, deserve prompt help from health officials on this score.

But there is another unsettling aspect to this situation -- the plight of residents who bought homes on the estate under the right-to-buy scheme when they were owned by the council.

Now, some 20 of them face bills of up to £15,000 each to make their homes safe.

It is their liability, not the council's. But even so, do they not deserve help? After all, they were encouraged into home ownership by a government-backed scheme and were sold dangerous houses by the council -- albeit unknowingly.

A caring council should accept a moral duty to relieve any hardship.