YORK has been pinpointed as an asbestos hotspot in a survey published today by the TUC.

Scores of former York carriageworks employees have died over the years of asbestos-related diseases such as mesothelioma, and others who worked at other factories in the city.

Now the Trades Union Congress has claimed in Mapping The Misery Of Asbestos that a total of 108 people from the City of York Council area have died of asbestos-related illnesses since 1997.

TUC regional secretary Paul Jagger said there was a need to ensure everyone received the compensation to which they were entitled and also to ensure people at work today were fully protected from asbestos dust.

The TUC report disclosed that 18,000 people have died over the past four years from working with the "deadly fibre" and the figure is increasing.

By 2020 it is estimated that asbestos will be responsible for more than 10,000 deaths a year.

The TUC report, published to mark International Workers' Memorial Day, showed that no part of Britain is immune from asbestos-related deaths, with most victims living in areas linked to heavy industries including shipbuilding and engineering.

Tyne and Wear has had the highest number of deaths in recent years, with other "hotspots" including York, Devon and London.

"These sad statistics are a legacy of our industrial past," said TUC general secretary John Monks.

"Thousands of workers have been exposed to asbestos and the plague will go on killing in greater and greater numbers.

"All we can do to help those affected is to fight to ensure that they and their families receive the compensation they are entitled to."

The GMB union today called for a global ban on the production and use of asbestos.

"The killing of workers by asbestos fibres must stop," said general secretary John Edmonds.

London trade unionists were marking the memorial day by staging a march in memory of the 35 people who died in the Clapham rail crash 13 years ago.

Updated: 12:07 Saturday, April 28, 2001