A CITY lawyer is ramping up calls for an asbestos “fund of last resort” after winning a payout for a client who was initially told he would get nothing.

Lung cancer sufferer Ronnie Cadwallader, 76, went to John Pickering and Partners after being told he could not trace his defunct employers’ insurers.

But a second trawl of firms by the Association of British Insurers (ABI) under its voluntary tracing code mysteriously pulled out a hit.

John Pickering partner Kevin Johnson says the experience highlights the flaws in the system.

After winning his case, Halewood grandfather Mr Cadwallader told LDP Legal: “My case proves that the insurance scheme for trying to trace policies just doesn’t work, it is totally hit and miss.”

He worked as a metal worker striping asbestos off pipes, turbines and boilers for Carolina Engineering.

His initial solicitors made an application to the ABI in January 2008, three months after Mr Cadwallader was diagnosed with mesothelioma. But the search came back negative.

He then approached John Pickering who applied again in June this year. Their application confirmed Zurich is on risk for two periods of employment in the 1950s.

Court proceedings were started under the fast track system and a hearing was scheduled for today. But both sides have agreed to settle for damages of £140,000.

On the outcome, Mr Johnson said: “If we had accepted the original ABI advice at face value then the claim would have failed and no damages would have been recovered.

“It is not clear what changed in the period between the first ABI search and our enquiry in June to lead to such a different result.