THE widow of a York asbestos timebomb victim claims her battle for damages from his former employers has ended in a derisory "goodwill" pay-out.

Dorothy Potter was offered £10,000 by directors of the former building company R J Pulleyn and Sons, after solicitors could find no record of liability insurance at the time when her husband, Kenneth, worked there as a joiner between 1942 and 1960.

But she will only receive a cheque for about £5,500 following the deduction of her own legal and medical costs.

An inquest heard last year that Mr Potter, who died in 1998 of mesothelioma, was exposed to asbestos dust while cutting sheets of the material for roofing, and also while working for other building firms.

Mrs Potter had been planning to take the case to York County Court last month until the payment was offered, as a goodwill gesture without admission of liability, by the present directors.

Her solicitors, Pattinson & Brewer, urged her to accept the offer, warning that if she pressed ahead with the trial, she would be throwing away a settlement worth thousands of pounds and could make herself personally liable for substantial costs.

Partner Kevin Hughes said liability insurance had not been compulsory when Mr Potter worked for the company, and even if Mrs Potter went to court and liability was found against the company, there would be no one against whom the damages award could have been enforced.

He said the present directors would not be personally liable for any damages awarded against the company before they were directors.

Unfortunately, he added, the law did not currently provide remedy for victims of uninsured companies prior to liability insurance becoming compulsory.

Mrs Potter, of Milsom Grove, off Hull Road, said she wanted the "unacceptable situation" to be exposed by the Evening Press.

"I still do not feel that justice has been done," she said.

She said she had concerns for other former employees of Pulleyn - founded by a former Lord Mayor of York, R J Pulleyn - who might also be at risk and who could face the same difficulties if they also fell ill.

Simon Black, of solicitors Harrowell Shaftoe, which represented the Pulleyn directors, said they were unavailable for comment. He added that the company had been well-run and probably had been insured, but it had proved impossible to find any record of such insurance.