RETAIL giant Arcadia was ordered to pay £5,000 for exposing 45 labourers to potentially deadly asbestos fibres while refurbishing its Topshop store in Liverpool.

The company was revamping its Church Street shop when asbestos was uncovered in ceiling beams.

But despite sealing off the first floor where the asbestos was found, work did not stop in other areas of the six-storey building, which also houses Topman and Miss Selfridge, for another 11 days.

On June 9 2008, the sprayed asbestos on the ceiling beams was first disturbed and the 45 workers were eventually asked to leave on June 20 when a contractor contacted the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to say that the contamination had spread outside the sealed area.

The refurbishment work was also allowed to go ahead despite a survey, carried out before the project started, which found asbestos in the store. Warren Pennington, the investigating inspector at HSE, said: “It is shocking that workers were exposed to deadly asbestos fibres, and that the refurbishment work was allowed to happen without the proper control measures in place.”

The HSE prosecuted the clothing shops’ owners, Arcadia Group Ltd, and contractors Vincents Shopfitters, following an investigation.