Hebden Bridge solicitor gears up for 1200 mile UK cycle tour to unmask the asbestos killer

Wednesday, 17 June 2009

Specialist asbestos solicitor, Paul Glanville from Hebden Bridge who works for Halifax Law firm John Pickering and Partners LLP, asbestos campaigner Jason Addy and solicitor Katrina London are gearing up for the gruelling 1,200-mile bike ride from Glasgow to Southampton in a bid to raise awareness of the plight of asbestos-related cancer sufferers and to support the call for a national research centre.

The trio will be cycling through regions of the country whose communities have been most blighted by the asbestos-related cancer mesothelioma. They will be in Hebden Bridge the site of Cape’s notorious Acre Mill asbestos factory on 28th June.

Starting on 20 June in Glasgow and finishing in Southampton on 4 July, they aim to visit victims of the ‘cruel lottery’ and towns across the UK that have been touched by the deadly material asbestos.

Tony Whitston, who chairs the Asbestos Victims' Support Groups' Forum UK and the Greater Manchester Victims Support Group, representing asbestos victim support groups across the country, said: “We will be giving Katrina, Paul and Jason our full backing and supporting them with a number of rallies and public meetings along the way, organised by local groups.”

The campaign team plan to hand in a petition to the Canadian consulate in Birmingham on 1st July. Quebec still mines and exports asbestos around the world. They will also hope to meet the MPs who have been doing invaluable work on asbestos issues in Parliament outside the Houses of Parliament  on 2nd July, Mick Clapham, MP for Barnsley West and Penistone, Mick Clapham, and Rochdale MP Paul Rowen, whose constituency is particularly badly affected.

Paul Glanville said, "The aim of the trip is to highlight the appalling effects that asbestos have had on this country and to raise much needed funds for medical research into mesothelioma.”

"It is a staggering fact that asbestos-related cancers remain one of Britain’s biggest workplace killers in 2009, yet there is practically no dedicated research funding into these cancers.”

For more details, visit their website Breathtaking Journey and you can sponsor the trio by visiting Just Giving

See also:

Just Giving - to sponsor the cyclists

Breathtaking Journey - blog of the journey

Hebweb Feature on Asbestos and the Legacy of Acre Mill