Colleagues From Chesterfield Trebor Factory and Neighbours From Creswell Model Village Asked To Help Investigation

By Dave Grimshaw

The daughter of a former sweet factory worker who died of an asbestos-related disease is appealing for her mother’s former colleagues and neighbours to share information as they may hold vital clues as to how and why she came into contact with the deadly dust.
 
An inquest held last week was adjourned so that Linda Hunt’s (maiden name Dent) family could carry out further investigations as to why she died from asbestos-related cancer, mesothelioma, aged 66, in December last year.

Her daughter Joanne Lowde, 42, has instructed specialist industrial illness lawyers at Irwin Mitchell to investigate and help provide answers as to exactly how her mother became exposed to deadly asbestos dust.

 Linda started working at the Trebor sweets factory in Chesterfield after she left school although very little is known about the working conditions and whether there was asbestos present in the building.

When Linda was around 20 years old, she moved to the Creswell Model Village in Derbyshire where she lived until around 1975 and then again from 1979 to 1992..  The Model Village was built in 1895 by the Bolsover Colliery Company to house the workers of the Creswell Colliery and their families. 

When Linda moved to the Model Village, she was married to a miner, but they later separated. In the early 1970s, new kitchens and bathrooms were fitted in the houses in the Model Village.  It is believed that the previous kitchens and bathrooms, which were replaced in 2001, may have contained asbestos materials.

Joanne and her lawyers at Irwin Mitchell are now appealing for Linda’s ex-colleagues and neighbours to come forward to help piece together information about the conditions at the Trebor factory and during refurbishments at the Creswell Model Village.
 
Joanne, who still lives in Creswell, said: “My mother was hard working, and always looking out for others. She became very ill so quickly. She only found out that it could be asbestos-related shortly before she died and wasn’t strong enough to help figure out where she had been exposed.

“Hopefully people will be able to help us and anyone with any information should get in touch with Irwin Mitchell so that we can try and get answers about how she was exposed to asbestos.”

Simone Hardy, from Irwin Mitchell’s Sheffield office, said: “Asbestos-related diseases can take decades after exposure to the harmful material to fully develop. This can make it difficult to pin-point exactly how and where people were exposed, although often it is via their place of work or property refurbishments.

“Unfortunately, very little is known about Linda’s exposure to asbestos, but it is hoped that her ex-colleagues at Trebor in Chesterfield and her neighbours in Creswell can help shed some light on how she came into contact with the deadly dust.”

Anyone with information about the working conditions at the Trebor factory in Chesterfield in the 1950s and 1960s and about the possible use of asbestos in the Creswell Model Village in the 1970s should contact Simone Hardy at Irwin Mitchell on 0114 274 4420  or email simone.hardy@irwinmitchell.com.

Read more about Irwin Mitchell's expertise in Asbestos Claims.