Ex-truck workers may get damages for loss of hearing

DOZENS of former employees of a truck maker could be in line for compensation after suffering hearing loss.

Attwood Solicitors has already successfully pursued about 20 claims against the former Foden truck plant at Sandbach. Claimants can receive anything up to about �20,000.

Solicitor Ashley Attwood said: "We've had quite a few people come forward – and Foden's insurers have already made quite a few admissions of liability.

"We are now waiting to find out if there are other Foden's workers who could be entitled to damages.

"We have got clients who worked at Foden as long ago as 1963. It does not matter that the exposure was so long ago.

"There's evidence that all areas were noisy, with clients being exposed to noise from a variety of loud air-powered hand tools – yet there was no hearing protection.

"In most claims, you have three years from the date of your accident to make a claim.

"But with a hearing claim, it is three years from the date of knowledge. Usually, people will see their doctor and be told that deterioration in hearing is beyond that which should normally be expected from the ageing process."

A landmark court ruling in 2009 meant workers can now claim cash if they can prove they were exposed to more than 80 decibels of noise, equivalent to the sound of an alarm clock, at work.

Scores of former pottery workers across Stoke-on-Trent have successfully pursued claims against there former employees since the change in the law was made. Attwood Solicitors has been involved in claims against former ceramics firms and it was during the company's investigations that the potential for claims against Foden came to light.

Reg Moston, of Ettiley Heath, Sandbach, worked for the truck makers for 20-years until 1980, as an AC re-fitter.

He said: "My hearing has gradually gone over the years. I get noises in my ears which stop me hearing the television properly, or I find I have got to really listen to hear what people are saying to me.

"The noise at work was awful, there were these big air guns we used to use which were very loud and all day long there would be the constant sound of engines revving, chisels, banging and hammering.

"The noise just went on and you couldn't get away from it, we didn't have ear protection.

"I would go home and my ears would be ringing. But at the time it was just part of work."

The last Foden truck was produced in July 2006, bringing an end to 150 years of truck manufacturing from the plant at Sandbach.

Attwood Solicitors is dealing with a number of insurers connected to the compensation claims.

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