A PENSIONER who is dying of cancer linked to asbestos has launched a £150,000 compensation claim against his former employers.

Pensioner Fred Edwards, of Park Road, Barnoldswick, is suing Rolls Royce PLC after contracting lung disease mesothelioma -- an asbestos poisoning cancer.

A writ has been issued at the High Court in London claiming Mr Edwards was exposed to the cancer-causing asbestos when he worked at the Barrnoldswick engineering plant.

Paul Webber, of Leeds-based Irwin Mitchell Solicitors is acting on behalf of Mr Edwards. He has issued the writ against Rolls Royce, where Mr Edwards worked for almost 30 years.

The writ claims Mr Edwards was exposed to airborne asbestos and its dust at the plant. It goes on to say the company was negligent and in breach of its statutory duty in protecting its worker from the killer fibre.

Mr Edwards worked at the site as a boiler fireman between September 1953 and December 1982.

The claim includes compensation for personal injury, the pain and suffering and loss of amenity which is to be more than £100,000 but not more than £150,000.

Rolls Royce, a specialist in aerospace and marine engineering employs around 20,000 people nationally and 800 at its Barnoldswick site.

A landmark ruling by the House of Lords in May 2002 paved the way for compensation claims of this sort after figures revealed around 3,500 people die from Mesothelioma each year.

And the TUC is behind the campaign to try and win compensation for workers who are exposed to it after the union launched an Asbestos Victim Support Group.

Today Gary Atkins, communications manager for Rolls Royce, said: "We can confirm that Mr Edwards worked for Rolls Royce between the specified dates and that we are in receipt of the recent claim."

He added: "It would be inappropriate and not beneficial to either ourselves or Mr Edwards to comment further at this stage."

When the Lancashire Evening Telegraph contacted Mr Edwards at his terraced home yesterday he said he did not want to comment.