WHEN Tommy "Tucker" McAllister made tea for his fellow dock workers, asbestos floating in the air would gently settle on top of their steaming drinks.

Some would bend down to blow the white powder off.

But "Tucker" would jokingly tick them off, telling them that was the cream.

Later the men would kick chunks of asbestos - sitting on the decking - around like a football.

To them the pipe lagging was a play-thing, a source of fun.

Little did they know that, in reality, it was a death sentence.

Now, each week, an estimated two people die in Hampshire of an asbestos-related disease, one of them in Southampton.

Many worked for the Navy, Harland and Wolff (now VT Group), and in the railway industry in Eastleigh.

Such was the level of exposure to the carcinogenic material, dock workers would scoop it out of their mouths with their hands.

At the time equipment in ships' engine rooms was covered with lagging made from a mixture of asbestos powder and water.

In Eastleigh, railway employers covered the metalwork inside carriages with it.

But they are not the only ones dying now.

Seamen, engineers, stewards and cooks are all being claimed by the killer which lay dormant in their lungs for decades.

Wives, who washed their husband's overalls, are being claimed by mesothelioma and asbestos-related lung cancers, too.

As are women who babysat for the children of dock workers while teenagers.

Hampshire is one of the areas in the country where this type of industrial disease is most prolific - and it's set to get worse.

With a lag time between exposure and disease symptoms of between 30 and 50 years, the number of cases is not expected to peak until 2020.

But once someone develops mesothelioma it works swiftly and the remaining life span is estimated at between eight and 18 months.

A TUC analysis of asbestos death rates reveals Southampton and Portsmouth contributes some of the worst death rates in Britain.

In Southampton over 200 people died between 1997 and 2001, compared to 130 in Eastleigh, 70 in Gosport and 70 in Christchurch.

"Mesothelioma can be a very rampant and aggressive disease," said Southampton General Hospital chest consultant Dr Ben Marshall, who confirmed that around one person a week dies of an asbestos-related disease in the city.

He said despite the region's reputation for high levels of asbestos-related illness, the sheer number of cases was still "a lot more than I anticipated".

Some have pleural plaques, lung scarring which, in itself, is not life-threatening.

But this can change into more dangerous conditions.

A recent victim was Alexander Flanagan, 57, from Totton, whose inquest was held last week following his death in May from mesothelioma.

He was a joiner with Harland and Wolff for 20 years, during which time he was often contracted out to work at the Royal Navy dockyard in Portsmouth and the Esso Refinery at Fawley.

His widow Louise remembers him coming home smothered in asbestos dust.

"He would have it in his hair and on his overalls. It rained down on them like confetti and they went 'huff, huff' to blow it away.

"My husband didn't even know he had pleural plaques (lung scarring). They gave him four months to live and he lasted a year."

Ten days before his death Mr Flanagan was still up and about.

"He said: 'If I walk I'll stay alive.' He was never a sit-around person, he was so on-the-move. It must have been there all these years. There are loads of people in Southampton with pleural plaques.

"They are walking around the streets and they don't know they've got it. It's a lot worse than people think.

"There's a whole circle of men sitting on a timebomb, waiting for it to develop."

Despite her husband's premature death, Mrs Flanagan is suing the VT Group on his behalf and the legal battle could take more than three years to settle.

The VT Group has declined to comment about the case.

Tommy "Tucker" McAllister, who remembers Alexander Flanagan as "a hell of a nice fellow", received £10,000 compensation for his pleural plaques and now acts as a witness for those suing the VT Group. His wife Rita's sister has lung scarring from washing her husband's clothes.

"I live from day to day and take things as they come," she said.

"They would mix the "pug" (lagging) with their hands and it was blowing all over the place."

Lamport Bassitt solicitors specialise in taking legal action against companies on behalf of former employees who claim to have contracted asbestos-caused diseases in the workplace.

Partner Gareth Wheeler said the firm handles up to 400 claims at any one time for those whose health has been affected by asbestos.

"It's such an insidious material. It's near to an epidemic amongst those workers. It's a very nasty death. It can be quick or it can be long," he said.

Mr Wheeler is currently handling mesothelioma claims on behalf of people who never worked with asbestos, like stewards and cooks.

Lamport Bassitt is not alone in handling the cases of those who wish to sue former employers.

Claim management companies hire halls, then place an advert in the local press offering to X-ray or CT scan anyone worried they might be affected, while unions often provide legal assistance for their members.

Under English law legal cases can survive an individual's death.

"Every step is taken to conclude a claim within someone's lifetime," said Mr Wheeler.

"Sometimes higher levels are recovered after death but claimants say they prefer to settle early so they can die in peace."

Victims can be awarded up to £25,000 for a non-symptomatic condition such as lung scarring.

The damages scale for mesothelioma starts at £40-55,000, purely for the pain and suffering caused and the fact that it results in an early death.

Add to that the financial repercussions of the illness and the final amount can, very occasionally, total £300,000.

"The attitude of the companies does vary," said Mr Wheeler.

"I would say very few accept liability at an early stage and make reasonable settlement offers. Frenetic negotiations in the three weeks before trial are very common."

The tragic irony of the situation is that it was all preventable.

In 1945 the government contacted the country's industrial employers, warning them of the health dangers associated with asbestos and the protection measures that should be implemented to protect their employees.

Nothing happened.

The peak of exposure was in the 1960s with the practice continuing until 1983.

"The government didn't follow it up either. They are just as much to blame," said Mrs Flanagan.