Bus driver 'may have been exposed to asbestos' before cancer diagnosis
A popular bus driver from Walsall who died of cancer may have been exposed to asbestos, an inquest heard.
The inquest at Black Country Coroner's Court was held into the death of 29-year-old Isobel Gall.
She died on New Year's Eve after being diagnosed with mesothelioma on August 2018.
Mesothelioma is a cancer that is almost always caused by exposure to asbestos, according to the NHS
The inquest heard Ms Gall may have been exposed to asbestos earlier on in life.
However the coroner's office said this could not be proven. As a result coroner Joanne Lee listed her cause of death as 1A, mesothelioma.
Ms Gall, from Brownhills, worked for National Express West Midlands' Walsall garage since 2015.
She was the first-ever female driver to win the National Express UK Bus Driver of the Year competition in July 2018 after beating more than 250 colleagues.
National Express West Midlands dedicated a Platinum Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 double decker bus – fleet number 6725 – to Isobel last year after she became ill.
Phil Bowen, operations manager at National Express West Midlands, paid tribute to Isobel as an "excellent driver and very well liked member of the team."
