For years, many of Derbyshire's industrial workers were exposed to asbestos during their employment, putting them at risk of developing an incurable form of lung cancer called mesothelioma. Hundreds of people have died from the disease and the number of those diagnosed is expected to increase during the next decade. Aly Walsh reports.
Every time Lance Barker has a bad chest, he wonders if it is the start of something more serious.
He worked in the heavy fabrication shop at International Combustion, in Sinfin Lane, Derby, for 37 years. Until the 1970s, he says, workers were surrounded by asbestos.
"Derby has its own ticking timebomb," said the 62-year-old, of Bath Street, Derby, who believes that about 10 per cent of the workforce in his 80-strong department have died of asbestos-related conditions.
"We were surrounded by asbestos. We used to get metre-wide rolls of this stuff, which we cut up to make into blankets.
"We were making high-pressured vessels for coal-fired power stations.
"We would sit inside them and weld them together. If you didn't have asbestos matting, the temperature would melt your boots.
"We would come out literally covered in asbestos fibres.
"We were never told that it was dangerous."
Mr Barker said that at the moment, he is "one of the lucky ones".
But he added: "I'm conscious that it could erupt at any time."
One man who, sadly, knows his fate is Garford Gaskin.
"Bedridden and needing 24-hour care" are the words of a doctor describing what Mr Gaskin should expect in the last few months of his life.
When you are only 65, have never smoked and always kept fit, this kind of death is hard to comprehend, especially when you are told it may be only months away.
But this is the harsh reality of mesothelioma.
"What the doctor wrote sounds evil - especially when it's me they're talking about," said Mr Gaskin, of Clinton Street, Chaddesden.
"The doctors estimated that it would take 20 years off my life."
Mesothelioma is caused by asbestos and can develop between 20 and 50 years after a person has been exposed to the material.
The cancer is usually well-developed by the time they experience symptoms, such as feeling breathless, and from this point their health rapidly deteriorates.
It is difficult to diagnose early.
Treatments that prolong a sufferer's life include surgery to remove the cancer, chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
Mr Gaskin, who is now 67, first noticed the signs of the disease after returning from a holiday with his wife, Janet, when they celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary in May 2006.
He returned home breathless after his daily trip to the local shop to buy a paper.
Five days later, he was told by his GP to go to Derbyshire Royal Infirmary, where doctors revealed he had suspected mesothelioma.
This was confirmed a week later through biopsy results.
Mr Gaskin was shocked. It was almost 40 years since he had worked in the asbestos-surrounded environment of the former Derby Locomotive Works, owned by British Rail.
Mr Gaskin said that during his time there, between 1957 and 1968, workers did not realise that the asbestos which lingered in the atmosphere would prove deadly.
Mr Gaskin said: "They used to spray the asbestos on the locomotives for insulation and it just hung around in the atmosphere. We didn't know it was dangerous at the time and didn't wear masks.
"Quite a lot of people from there have had asbestos-related health problems and a couple have died from them."
After being diagnosed, Mr Gaskin lost four stone in a period of five weeks.
"I was breathless all the time - it's horrible when you cannot breathe in or out," he said.
In August 2006, he was admitted to Glenfield Hospital, Leicester, for an operation called extrapleural pneumonectomy, which is thought to extend a sufferer's life by 18 months.
Once mesothelioma sufferers start to show symptoms of the disease, they usually die within a year without medical intervention.
Only patients who are considered strong enough to survive are considered for this major surgery.
The operation involves removing the lining of the lungs and heart and the diaphragm to eliminate as many cancer cells as possible.
The operation went well for Mr Gaskin.
He now goes for X-rays every three months and although some new tumours have been detected, he has been told he does not need treatment at the moment.
He received a payout from British Rail last year. He did not wish to reveal the amount, but said that it in no way made up for what he and his family were having to endure.
He said: "I didn't do badly with compensation but it's not quite the same as being able to walk around and being healthy.
"They could have it all back if they could put me back to what I was two or three years ago."
Nationally, deaths from mesothelioma are predicted to rise by about 20 per cent within the next decade, with a peak in numbers between 2011 and 2015.
This is because of the period of time taken for the disease to develop in a person - 20 to 50 years - and the fact that regulations to stop widespread exposure to asbestos were not introduced until the late 1970s.
With Derbyshire's industrial history, including British Rail and the Trent Valley power stations, many of the county's workers were exposed to this deadly material.
And doctors and solicitors in the area say they are already seeing an increase in sufferers.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics and Derby Coroner's Court, studied by the Evening Telegraph, show that at least 300 people in Derbyshire have been killed by the cancer in the last 30 years.
In the period between 1985 and 2004, 122 men in Derby died from mesothelioma - ranking the city at 44 out of 408 local authorities for this period. The number of deaths has gradually increased each year.
It is thought there are 75 people suffering from the disease in the county but exact figures are unknown.
As soon as people are diagnosed with the cancer, they are advised that they can lodge a claim.
The amount awarded from civil claims varies but on average ranges from about £70,000 to £100,000.
However, most mesothelioma sufferers die before their claims are settled, because of the rapid and aggressive nature of the condition.
Many widows have to take on the battle themselves while dealing with their bereavement.
Angela Cox, whose husband, Derek, died of the disease at the age of 63 in 2002, did not receive any compensation until the end of last year.
Mrs Cox said her husband was exposed to asbestos in the 1960s while working at a number of companies, including International Combustion Ltd, which was eventually bought by Rolls-Royce Industrial Power (India) Ltd.
This was the only firm that could be traced. But R-R had argued it could not be proven how long Mr Cox had worked for them, or whether his job had sufficiently exposed him to asbestos to increase his risk of getting the cancer.
The company took the case to the Court of Appeal after a judge ruled it should pay Mrs Cox a six-figure sum.
But the judges at the London court dismissed R-R's case and ruled that the firm should give her the money.
Mrs Cox, 61, of Swadlincote, said: "It took more than five years for our case to be completed and it was very difficult.
"There were times when I felt really down and thought, why am going through this? It was the thought of my husband that kept me going."
Tony Tinley, regional officer for the Unite union, which represents many workers who have been exposed to asbestos, said that getting compensation was often a long battle.
Mr Tinley said: "Many of the sufferers die not knowing their loved-ones are being cared for and looked after.
"The insurers have tried every trick in the book to avoid paying out. Most of these employers were aware that they shouldn't be exposing people to asbestos at that time. It has been known since the 1930s that asbestos causes health problems.
"Every time their solicitors come up with a new legal argument, we have to either fight it through the court or take it to the Government."
Joanne Carlin, of Derbyshire Asbestos Support Team, said that some sufferers had a struggle trying to get compensation.
She said: "If people have worked for a small firm that has stopped trading then the insurers cannot always be found, so they cannot get a payout through a civil claim."
These people received between £10,000 and £30,000 from the Government if they were unable to make a civil claim because their employer had stopped trading.
"This is not a lot. Through no fault of their own, they are just going to work and then develop this devastating cancer that kills you."
Every time Lance Barker has a bad chest, he wonders if it is the start of something more serious.
He worked in the heavy fabrication shop at International Combustion, in Sinfin Lane, Derby, for 37 years. Until the 1970s, he says, workers were surrounded by asbestos.
"Derby has its own ticking timebomb," said the 62-year-old, of Bath Street, Derby, who believes that about 10 per cent of the workforce in his 80-strong department have died of asbestos-related conditions.
"We were surrounded by asbestos. We used to get metre-wide rolls of this stuff, which we cut up to make into blankets.
"We were making high-pressured vessels for coal-fired power stations.
"We would sit inside them and weld them together. If you didn't have asbestos matting, the temperature would melt your boots.
"We would come out literally covered in asbestos fibres.
"We were never told that it was dangerous."
Mr Barker said that at the moment, he is "one of the lucky ones".
But he added: "I'm conscious that it could erupt at any time."
One man who, sadly, knows his fate is Garford Gaskin.
"Bedridden and needing 24-hour care" are the words of a doctor describing what Mr Gaskin should expect in the last few months of his life.
When you are only 65, have never smoked and always kept fit, this kind of death is hard to comprehend, especially when you are told it may be only months away.
But this is the harsh reality of mesothelioma.
"What the doctor wrote sounds evil - especially when it's me they're talking about," said Mr Gaskin, of Clinton Street, Chaddesden.
"The doctors estimated that it would take 20 years off my life."
Mesothelioma is caused by asbestos and can develop between 20 and 50 years after a person has been exposed to the material.
The cancer is usually well-developed by the time they experience symptoms, such as feeling breathless, and from this point their health rapidly deteriorates.
It is difficult to diagnose early.
Treatments that prolong a sufferer's life include surgery to remove the cancer, chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
Mr Gaskin, who is now 67, first noticed the signs of the disease after returning from a holiday with his wife, Janet, when they celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary in May 2006.
He returned home breathless after his daily trip to the local shop to buy a paper.
Five days later, he was told by his GP to go to Derbyshire Royal Infirmary, where doctors revealed he had suspected mesothelioma.
This was confirmed a week later through biopsy results.
Mr Gaskin was shocked. It was almost 40 years since he had worked in the asbestos-surrounded environment of the former Derby Locomotive Works, owned by British Rail.
Mr Gaskin said that during his time there, between 1957 and 1968, workers did not realise that the asbestos which lingered in the atmosphere would prove deadly.
Mr Gaskin said: "They used to spray the asbestos on the locomotives for insulation and it just hung around in the atmosphere. We didn't know it was dangerous at the time and didn't wear masks.
"Quite a lot of people from there have had asbestos-related health problems and a couple have died from them."
After being diagnosed, Mr Gaskin lost four stone in a period of five weeks.
"I was breathless all the time - it's horrible when you cannot breathe in or out," he said.
In August 2006, he was admitted to Glenfield Hospital, Leicester, for an operation called extrapleural pneumonectomy, which is thought to extend a sufferer's life by 18 months.
Once mesothelioma sufferers start to show symptoms of the disease, they usually die within a year without medical intervention.
Only patients who are considered strong enough to survive are considered for this major surgery.
The operation involves removing the lining of the lungs and heart and the diaphragm to eliminate as many cancer cells as possible.
The operation went well for Mr Gaskin.
He now goes for X-rays every three months and although some new tumours have been detected, he has been told he does not need treatment at the moment.
He received a payout from British Rail last year. He did not wish to reveal the amount, but said that it in no way made up for what he and his family were having to endure.
He said: "I didn't do badly with compensation but it's not quite the same as being able to walk around and being healthy.
"They could have it all back if they could put me back to what I was two or three years ago."
Nationally, deaths from mesothelioma are predicted to rise by about 20 per cent within the next decade, with a peak in numbers between 2011 and 2015.
This is because of the period of time taken for the disease to develop in a person - 20 to 50 years - and the fact that regulations to stop widespread exposure to asbestos were not introduced until the late 1970s.
With Derbyshire's industrial history, including British Rail and the Trent Valley power stations, many of the county's workers were exposed to this deadly material.
And doctors and solicitors in the area say they are already seeing an increase in sufferers.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics and Derby Coroner's Court, studied by the Evening Telegraph, show that at least 300 people in Derbyshire have been killed by the cancer in the last 30 years.
In the period between 1985 and 2004, 122 men in Derby died from mesothelioma - ranking the city at 44 out of 408 local authorities for this period. The number of deaths has gradually increased each year.
It is thought there are 75 people suffering from the disease in the county but exact figures are unknown.
As soon as people are diagnosed with the cancer, they are advised that they can lodge a claim.
The amount awarded from civil claims varies but on average ranges from about £70,000 to £100,000.
However, most mesothelioma sufferers die before their claims are settled, because of the rapid and aggressive nature of the condition.
Many widows have to take on the battle themselves while dealing with their bereavement.
Angela Cox, whose husband, Derek, died of the disease at the age of 63 in 2002, did not receive any compensation until the end of last year.
Mrs Cox said her husband was exposed to asbestos in the 1960s while working at a number of companies, including International Combustion Ltd, which was eventually bought by Rolls-Royce Industrial Power (India) Ltd.
This was the only firm that could be traced. But R-R had argued it could not be proven how long Mr Cox had worked for them, or whether his job had sufficiently exposed him to asbestos to increase his risk of getting the cancer.
The company took the case to the Court of Appeal after a judge ruled it should pay Mrs Cox a six-figure sum.
But the judges at the London court dismissed R-R's case and ruled that the firm should give her the money.
Mrs Cox, 61, of Swadlincote, said: "It took more than five years for our case to be completed and it was very difficult.
"There were times when I felt really down and thought, why am going through this? It was the thought of my husband that kept me going."
Tony Tinley, regional officer for the Unite union, which represents many workers who have been exposed to asbestos, said that getting compensation was often a long battle.
Mr Tinley said: "Many of the sufferers die not knowing their loved-ones are being cared for and looked after.
"The insurers have tried every trick in the book to avoid paying out. Most of these employers were aware that they shouldn't be exposing people to asbestos at that time. It has been known since the 1930s that asbestos causes health problems.
"Every time their solicitors come up with a new legal argument, we have to either fight it through the court or take it to the Government."
Joanne Carlin, of Derbyshire Asbestos Support Team, said that some sufferers had a struggle trying to get compensation.
She said: "If people have worked for a small firm that has stopped trading then the insurers cannot always be found, so they cannot get a payout through a civil claim."
These people received between £10,000 and £30,000 from the Government if they were unable to make a civil claim because their employer had stopped trading.
"This is not a lot. Through no fault of their own, they are just going to work and then develop this devastating cancer that kills you."
This article was originally published at thisisderbyshire
on February 20, 2008
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