CAMPAIGNERS seeking justice for victims of Swindon Disease are today celebrating a double victory in House of Lords.

The law lords yesterday made it easier for workers who contracted the asbestos-related cancer meso-thelioma to claim compensation, even if they worked for more than one employer.

But they also improved the com-pensation chances of hundreds of workers who contracted mesothel-ioma after spending all their working lives at Swindon's former railway works.

The law lords overturned a Court of Appeal ruling that asbestos workers for more than one company would have to prove which firm was res-ponsible for them contracting meso-thelioma.

And it rejected an argument by asbestos company lawyers that a single fibre could cause a fatal mesothelioma tumour, making it impossible to say which employer should be held liable for workers contracting the disease.

The decision is expected to help thousands of sufferers some of them in Swindon to settle their com-pensation claims almost immed-iately.

It will also cost insurance compan-ies billions of pounds.

Swindon's leading mesothelioma lawyer, Brigitte Chandler, of Thring Townsend, said Swindonians directly affected by the House of Lords ruling were overjoyed at the news.

"I have been ringing all my clients affected by it, and there was enormous relief," she said.

But Miss Chandler also said the ruling would have benefits for all railway workers suffering from mesothelioma in the town.

"Employers such as British Rail have been taking advantage of this Court of Appeal decision," she said.

"They have started filing defences saying you can't tell where the as-bestos came from it could have come from walking in the street, because asbestos is all around us, or from working in a factory.

"It would have affected all the railway workers who are making claims but this decision will probably stop all that."

Eve Beard, who won a £102,000 compensation payment after her husband Don died of mesothelioma last year, welcomed the House of Lords verdict. "I think it's a good ruling because people should be compensated," said Mrs Beard, who shared her payout with her husband's two sons.

"Don's sons lost their father, a friend and a guiding light, so that was why I shared it between the three of us."

John Fleetwood, an ex-railwayman who saw several ex-colleagues die of mesothelioma, also hailed the decision as very good news. He said many firms had taken too long to take proper precautions against asbestos poisoning, in spite of knowing for years it was a danger to their staff.

Mesothelioma has killed so many workers locally, many of them railway workers, that it has become known as the Swindon Disease.

Hundreds have died already in the town, and thousands more could follow in the next few decades, according to Government figures.