School asbestos find kept from pupils’ parents

BY KEELEY KNOWLES

Parents have expressed their ‘disgust’ at not being told that asbestos was found at their children’s school.

One mother, whose 15-year-old daughter goes to Mark Rutherford Upper School in Wentworth Drive, Bedford, where asbestos has been found, said that some teachers were denying that the potentially fatal material had been discovered.

She said the children were told about it after some of the male pupils had urinated on the floor of the music room where the asbestos was found.

On Friday, Bedford Borough Council said that it was found during building works carried out at the school over the half-term as a result of a burst water pipe.

The spokesman said that parents had not been informed because safety checks had confirmed it was not ‘causing a hazard to those using the building’.

A man, whose step-son attends the school said that this was unacceptable and that if it was in one part of the school it would be ‘in the whole school’.

He said: “It’s so dangerous and if it is in the pipe lagging, which we have been told it is, it will probably be everywhere.”

His partner and mother of the child added: “We just keep getting told different stories by the children.

“Apparently one child was told she could get cancer if she breathed the asbestos in.

“I can’t believe the parents haven’t been told anything.

“There are toxic and hazardous signs up around it but the teachers seem to be oblivious to asbestos and the children could be exposed.

“I phoned the school this week to be referred to environmental health at the council but then when I spoke to them they told me to go back to the school.

“Then one teacher said they wouldn’t be removing the asbestos until the Christmas period.”

The council spokesman said it would be taking place later this month outside of the school working hours to minimise disruption.

A spokesman for Bedford Borough Council said: “During building works at Mark Rutherford School over the halfterm break asbestos was found to be present in part of the building.

“Safety checks confirmed that this was not causing a hazard to those using the building and an air assurance test showed that asbestos was not present in the air.

“However as a further precaution the area was, and will remain, sealed until removal work takes place.”