These happy pictures show David doing a job he loved - decades later he is trying to find out if he developed a deadly cancer at work

A great-grandfather diagnosed with a deadly asbestos-related disease is appealing for his former colleagues to get in touch.

David Mellor, 75, is trying to work out when he may have come into contact with asbestos - the deadly substance which causes a cancer he is currently battling.

These happy pictures show David, 75, in his younger days as an ambulance driver - a job he loved.

He worked across Oldham between 1966 and 1991, first for Oldham Ambulance Service and then, after a short break as a landlord, again as an ambulanceman for the North West Regional Health Authority.

David, who lives in Shaw, believes that two of the stations he worked from contained asbestos.

David Mellor (Leigh Day)

He has since been diagnosed with mesothelioma - a cancer caused by inhaling asbestos fibres.

David and his wife Cindy now hope to find the other people in the photographs, the colleagues he worked alongside, so that they can help him with the story of his working life.

The great-grandfather of seven thinks he may have come into contact with deadly asbestos fibres while working out of two ambulance stations in Oldham - Kelsall Street and Croften Street.

David Mellor back row, fourth from left (Leigh Day)

“At the Kelsall Street station ambulance attendants had to clean the old coke fired boiler, daily on the late shift,” he says.

“The boiler was in a small room and was lagged with asbestos. It was fed by pipework which was all lagged with asbestos. It was in a bad state of repair with asbestos lagging on the floor which would be disturbed by old dumped furniture also left in the room.

David on the front row, third from right (Leigh Day)

“The ambulance station at Croften Street also had asbestos roofs, plus asbestos lagged pipes to a gas boiler.”

David’s solicitor Steven Dickens, of Leigh Day solicitors, is asking for anyone who worked with David at either station to come forward.

David Mellor is appealing for former colleagues to come forward after he was diagnosed with mesothelioma. David is on the back row, second from left, here (Leigh Day)

He said: “David needs to trace anyone in these pictures who remembers working alongside him in the ambulance service in Oldham from 1966 onwards.”

If you are in the pictures, or remember working with David Mellor, contact Steven Dickens at Leigh Day solicitors on 0161 393 3574 or sdickens@leighday.co.uk

The North West Ambulance Service said it was unable to comment due to ongoing legal proceedings.