A COUNCIL allowed employees to work with dangerous asbestos materials for nearly five years without telling them, a court was told yesterday.

Staff at a North-East sports centre were exposed to the substance, which can cause lung cancer, until January last year - even though inspectors found asbestos at the complex in 2001.

Wear Valley District Council was told about the presence of the toxic material at Woodhouse Close Leisure Complex, in Bishop Auckland, but did nothing to remove it or to warn staff.

The authority was fined £18,000 after admitting six separate breaches of health and safety regulations at Darlington Magistrates' Court yesterday.

Rod Searl, representing the council, said that none of the senior officers who were responsible for the cover up in 2001 were able to appear in court because they had since left the authority.

The Government's Health and Safety Executive (HSE) began investigations at the leisure centre when a maintenance worker made an official complaint in January last year.

The man, who worked in the centre's plant room with a colleague, raised the alarm after discovering that the council had ignored positive inspection reports carried out by in 2001.

"The two maintenance workers would have been exposed to asbestos because nothing was done to stop them inhaling the fibres," said HSE inspector Richard Bishop.

"The council failed in its legal duty to reduce those risks.

"In 2001, the asbestos survey was shelved, for want of a better word. It was kept centrally at offices at Crook and staff were never made aware of the presence of asbestos.

"Asbestos is one of the biggest occupational killers there is. It can lead to lung cancer and asbestosis which causes an irrevocable scarring to the lungs."

Mr Bishop said it could take up to 30 or 40 years before any illness makes itself apparent.

Mr Bishop added that the risk to the members of the public using the centre would be "quite low".

Mr Searl, mitigating, said: "My instructions are to keep my statement brief and to the point.

"None of the current directorate at the council were in situ when these breaches occurred. There has been a complete change of directorate, management and responsibility.

"Since the investigation, the council has spent in excess of £60,000 on dealing with asbestos.

"The employees are under monitoring by the local authority. That is the position regarding them."

In sentencing, chief magistrate Colin Beadle, said: "The action which should have been taken was not, and staff were put at risk of asbestos contamination.