Residents Of Glasgow's East End have been urged to work together to tackle the threat of asbestos in their area.

More than 100 people attended a meeting called by Thompsons Solicitors, a firm specializing in asbestos compensation claims, in the wake of a fire at St Mark's Primary School in the area.

Asbestos fibres were removed from nearby roofs.

Council chiefs insisted only "extremely low amounts of asbestos fibres were found" but one resident said the fire had been handled "totally inappropriately".


Nessie Mitchell, 55, said: "They should have had a strategy in place to deal with this sort of incident. They should have demolished that school as soon as they were finished using it or at least have had 24-hour security on the site."

But solicitor Patrick McGuire said there is no law to make local authorities demolish or remove the hazardous material.

Instead he urged residents to form an action group to push for more recognition of the risk of asbestos in disused buildings.

He said: "There is a gap in legislation that this incident highlights."

Shettleston councillor Frank McAveety said he "guaranteed" residents could have a meeting with councilors once all the forensic data had been collected.

But a council spokeswoman described some of the comments made as "scaremongering".

(NE)