John Winter was 76 when he died from mesothelioma. He had worked at Small & Parkes, otherwise known as Mintex Don at Hendham Vale in Manchester from 1986 to 2002. For the first five years, he worked in the Research and Development Department where new brake linings were tested which process gave rise to asbestos dust. For the rest of his time, he worked on electrical maintenance all over the factory and that brought him into contact with even more asbestos dust.
This factory made large industrial brake linings from asbestos. The raw asbestos arrived in bales and went to the mixing department where the bales were slit open and mixed with resin and the resulting mix was then taken by conveyor to hoppers that fed into moulds below. The brake linings were them cured and trimmed to the correct size and the claimant described dust as being all over the place – on the machines, conveyor belts and on the floor. Dust level measurements taken by the Health & Safety Executive confirmed that improvement was required. Hundreds of people were employed there and John Winter was not the only one to develop an asbestos-related disease.
But when it came to pursuing the company for compensation, there were incredible difficulties working out which company to sue and the defendant’s own solicitors had difficulty getting to grips with the corporate history which included BBA Group Plc, BBA Friction, Mintex Don, TMD Friction Europe and as the European company looked like the last in a chain of TUPE transfers, the possibility of suing in Germany were being investigated. Unfortunately, by this stage John Winter had died in October 2022 but Mrs Winter rode to the rescue and found treasured documents in the attic which implicated TMD Friction UK as the last employer instead. These persuaded the Inland Revenue to review the work history details they had sent in September 2022, and they amended those that had previously been relied upon and this enabled the claim to be brought in England.
The claim went on to settle for £185,000 and Mrs Winter was both relieved and pleased that some justice had finally been achieved for her beloved husband.
