A FORMER brewery worker from Wirral suffering from asbestos-related cancer has launched a High Court claim for more than £200,000 against his ex-employers.

Keith Jones, 67, from Wallasey, has launched the claim against Greene King, blaming the disease on time he spent in pub cellars stock-taking.

He is suffering from malignant mesothelioma that the court documents, that have recently been made publicly available at the court in London, say is expected to cut his life short by 15 years.

Mr Jones is claiming compensation from Greene King, of Westgate Brewery, Bury St Edmunds, who are the successor to Allied Breweries (UK), Joshua Tetley & Son, Tetley Walker, Allied Domecq (North), and Punch Retail and Spirit Group.

The papers say he worked for the breweries between 1974 and 2008 and from 1979 carried out stocktaking at pubs owned by the companies in the north of England.

They say that during his work he was exposed to asbestos, often in cellars containing pipework which was lagged with asbestos in poor condition, and he often brushed up against this when checking nooks and crannies in the cellars.

He had to check stock levels in pub cellars, including a thorough search to check there was no hidden stock, and in doing this he clambered over barrels to reach remoter areas of the cellars. The asbestos lagging was often damaged.

Barrels and beer bottles in the cellars were usually covered in dust, and he had to move them to check if they contained beer.

Several times each year he he also went to pubs being refurbished, and was present where tradesmen were working and creating large clouds of dust which he believes were often from asbestos boards.

Mr Jones says in the claim papers he often travelled home with his clothes covered in large amounts of dust and asbestos, but he says he was never warned about the dangers of asbestos dust.

He accuses Greene King and its predecessors of failing to provide adequate ventilation, or a safe means of removing asbestos from his workplace, failing to damp down dry asbestos, and failing to provide him with full and proper protective clothing.

The breweries, he says, failed to provide him with the means of cleaning his work clothes, failed to warn him of the need to clean his work clothes thoroughly after working with asbestos, failed to supervise him properly, failing to provide him with a safe place and system of work, and exposing him to an unnecessary risk of injury.

Mr Jones says he was first told he was suffering from mesothelioma on October 2022 after being given biopsy results by staff at the Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital.

A spokesperson for Greene King said: "We wouldn’t be able to comment while legal proceedings are live".