A STORE manager exposed to asbestos at work has lost his claim for unfair dismissal.

Michael Green, 25, was told by an employment tribunal that Asda in Ellesmere Port did not break any health and safety rules.

Tribunal chairman Derek Reed, sitting in Liverpool, rejected his claims that he had been unfairly dismissed, although he did not order him to pay any costs of the case.

The tribunal found that Asda bosses had acted responsibly and professionally when an accident at their temporary store in the old Littlewoods building in Rivington Road had caused asbestos in a wall to become exposed.

Asda was occupying Littlewoods while awaiting the opening of its new town centre supermarket. The site is now occupied by B&M Bargains.

Mr Green, of Croxteth, said he felt forced to resign from his post as counter manager on health and safety grounds after a pallet truck crashed into a wall, exposing the lung cancer-causing material, on May 5, 2006.

Using polythene sheets and brown packing tape, Mr Green temporarily sealed the 20cm by 30cm hole and brushed up debris from the floor.

He told store managers he believed proper repairs were needed to make the store safe for him and colleagues.

Mr Green said he told bosses that if the asbestos had not been recapsulated properly on his return from paternity leave on May 25 of that year he would be forced to leave the company as he felt his health was at risk.

He told the tribunal that Asda did not ask for an asbestos expert to come to check the damage and assess the risks until 44 days after the exposure.

However, after hearing evidence from asbestos expert Martin Wylde of Redhill Analysts, Mr Reed said Asda had dealt with the incident appropriately and he had no criticisms to make of any of the health and safety procedures.

Jonathan Whittaker, head of employment law at SAS Daniels, defended Asda by saying: 'Will the tribunal accept the qualifications of a 25-year-old counter manager or the qualifications of an expert of many years experience with asbestos handling?

'The expert said there was no more danger to anybody at anytime from that exposure to asbestos than there is to anyone who walks down a normal high street.

'There was clearly no breach of contract and Mr Green was not unfairly dismissed.

'Asda have acted fairly, reasonably and professionally throughout.'

Mr Green told the hearing he continued to believe Asda had put his health at risk.

He said: 'They failed their health and safety rules and breached my trust and confidence.'