Woman Appeals For Help From Ex-Workmates After Instructing Irwin Mitchell

A former Wedgwood ceramics staff trainer battling terminal cancer linked to asbestos, has spoken of her race against time to secure answers as to how she contracted the disease which looks set to claim her life.

Elizabeth Lynne Oliver wants her family to find out how she came into contact with asbestos believed to be responsible for her mesothelioma.

The 67-year-old, known as Lynne, has instructed specialist asbestos-related disease lawyers at Irwin Mitchell to investigate.

She is now appealing to former colleagues at Stoke-based ceramic giant Josiah Wedgwood & Sons for information to help provide her family with the answers it ‘deserves before it is too late’.

Expert Opinion

Mesothelioma is an extremely aggressive, and sadly, incurable, form of cancer caused by exposure to asbestos dust fibres. It is responsible for the deaths of more than 2,500 people in the UK every year.

“We are investigating Lynne’s exposure during her time working at Josiah Wedgwood & Sons. We hope that anyone who worked on the premises in the 1990s will come forward with any information they have about the presence of asbestos and what measures were in place to protect workers from exposure to the harmful dust and fibres.

“While medical staff cannot do anything for Lynne with regards to curing her cancer, we at last hope we can provide Lynne and her family with the vital answers they deserve regarding her diagnosis before it is too late.” Iain Shoolbred - Senior Associate Solicitor

Lynne was employed between 1992 and 1999 to organise and manage Wedgwood’s training programme aimed at young people.

She was based at the firm’s Barlestone head office and would split her time between the offices and speaking to workers on the factory floor.

At the time Lynne recalls the business upgrading a lot of its machines and kilns.

“It was quite common that I was working near to a point where they were dismantling and moving plant or machinery whilst I would be talking to staff and seeing how they were getting on,” Lynne said. “The atmosphere on the factory floor was always dusty and dirty but when machinery was moved it was noticeable worse.”

Lynne’s work alongside her son and brother, Ian, 48, and Gareth, 59, who also worked at Wedgwood during that time.

Lynne, who also worked as training director at John English Hairdressing Ltd in Stoke in the 1980s and in a similar role at Stoke College between 2000 and 2007,  was treated for breast cancer in 2014 and 2015.

At the start of last year she had three chest infections. In February 2017 Lynne was admitted to hospital with pneumonia, and following test, was diagnosed with mesothelioma.

Lynne, who now lives in Cheltenham, said: “When I was told about my mesothelioma and that I had a matter of months to live and that the cancer had spread too far for me to have surgery I couldn’t believe it.

“The decision not to have chemotherapy was difficult, but having been through that treatment and knowing that, unlike my breast cancer, it would not be curative, I did not want to suffer the side effects I had done with my previous treatment.

“I’ve tried to come to terms the best I can with my diagnosis and what that means for me and my family

“I have so many questions about how I could have been exposed to asbestos and I think I deserve answers, not just for me but for my family.

“It can’t change what has happened to me, but hopefully by having my old colleagues come forward, it will enable my family to understand why this happened and how.”

Anyone with information regarding the working conditions at Josiah Wedgwood & Sons during the 1990s should contact Iain Shoolbred at Irwin Mitchell on 0121 214 5446 or email iain.shoolbred@irwinmitchell.com

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