A LOCAL authority has been fined £12,000 after admitting a breach in health and safety regulations which led to workers being exposed to asbestos.

A long-running court case brought against Durham County Council by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) ended yesterday with the authority also ordered to pay £5,259 costs.

Andrew Finlay, for the HSE, told Bishop Auckland magistrates in his summing up of the case yesterday, that builders doing renovation work at Wolsingham School and Community College were exposed to the material in September 1999 during the summer break.

He said: "They were unaware that the asbestos had not been removed and were not using protective equipment at the time they were exposed to dangerous fibres."

Specialists had been to the school to remove the asbestos, but had told Durham County Council that there was still some left, in the science blocks on the third floor.

Mr Finlay said: "The reason it had not been removed is the work would not have been finished on time before the school holidays came to an end."

But the council had failed to inform the contractors that the asbestos was still there and told them to carry on with the work.

Chris Baker, for the council, said that the work had been a three-phase project with the removal of the asbestos taking place before the refurbishment.

He said that inadequate removal of the asbestos had led to the project being put back by more than six weeks.

Warning stickers were put on the ceilings and walls, but the contractors had failed to attend a meeting on the day that the asbestos was found.

"They would probablyhave been told about it then," he said.

The asbestos was released when workmen were removing doors in the science block - but no staff or students were ever exposed to it.

Mr Baker said that the council had pleaded guilty to the HSE's charges at the earliest opportunity and new measures had been adopted so it would not happen again.

Yesterday, the council's chief executive, Kingsley Smith, said: "As soon as the problem was identified, an emergency plan was implemented and the situation was brought under control within eight hours.

"There was no further release of asbestos fibres.