Death sparks search for ex-gas board colleagues
GRIEVING WIFE SEEKS HELP AFTER HUSBAND DIED FROM
THE wife of a former Southern Gas Board engineer who died from an asbestos-related cancer just one week after receiving the diagnosis, is calling on former colleagues to help confirm the source of his illness.
Linda Hulbert, of Gainsborough, in Lincolnshire, was married to Mick Hulbert for 53 years before his death aged 77 from mesothelioma, an incurable and aggressive form of cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. Mrs Hulbert believes her husband came into contact with the substance while working as an apprentice gas fitter and engineer for Southern Gas Board in the Aldershot and Farnham depots.
Mr Hulbert began his apprenticeship in 1961 when he was aged 15, and worked for Southern Gas Board until 1972.
Mrs Hulbert recalled that he would perform a range of tasks during this time: cutting asbestos flue pipes to size and adjust them when fitting new boilers or replacing water heaters; using asbestos rope to seal joints on asbestos flue pipes; cutting Asbestolux boards to size, to board up fireplaces so he could fit new gas fires; and removing asbestos gaskets when stripping down old boilers. When Mr Hulbert was aged 76, he developed shortness of breath and had a biopsy which came back clear. However, a second biopsy last November led to the diagnosis of mesothelioma on December 7. He died just a week later.
Mrs Hulbert has turned to law firm Leigh Day to investigate how her husband may have come into contact with asbestos. Its asbestos claims team is looking for former work colleagues to get in touch to supplement the information it has about where Mr Hulbert was exposed to asbestos and how it was used in the workplace.
Mrs Hulbert said: “Mick and I were enjoying a well-deserved retirement together when this hit us out of the blue. We were taken on a rollercoaster of emotions whilst he underwent tests which were initially clear, before the devastation in December when he was formally diagnosed with mesothelioma. We had fully expected Mick to be coming home from hospital but matters took a turn for the worse in just a week and he died before we could really say goodbye.
“Words cannot describe just how sad and hollow I feel having lost Mick to mesothelioma.”
Helen Ashton, an asbestos claims partner at Leigh Day, said: “Mick died incredibly quickly after he was told he had mesothelioma, and so we didn’t get chance to speak to him personally about his work with the Southern Gas Board. We are appealing for any former colleagues of
Mick’s or other gas fitters/engineers who worked out of the Aldershot and Farnham depots to get in touch with information about the use of asbestos to help supplement what we know about Mick’s asbestos exposure when working for the Southern Gas Board.”
If you can provide any relevant information, contact Helen Ashton via Madison Emmett by email at MEmmett@leighday.co.uk or by telephone on 0161 6725 286.
Words cannot describe just how sad and hollow I feel having lost Mick to mesothelioma. Linda Hulbert