CYCLISTS taking on a 1,200-mile tour to raise awareness of asbestos-related diseases have been greeted in Derby by people who have been exposed to the deadly dust and their families.

Asbestos fibres get into the lungs and, often decades later, can lead to the incurable cancer mesothelioma.

Derbyshire is a hotspot for the illness because of its industrial heritage, with many people exposed to the fibres over long periods at work. Now specialist asbestos solicitors Katrina London and Paul Glanville and campaigner Jason Addy have got on their bikes and called for the Government to pay for research, which is currently funded by a handful of charities.

The trio stopped at Derby's Market Place yesterday on their way from Glasgow to Southampton.

Among those there to greet them was Valerie Pepper, who was marking the second anniversary of her husband Derek's death from mesothelioma.

The 62-year-old, of Broom Close, Chellaston, said: "There's lots of money spent on research into other cancers but very little on mesothelioma.

If you don't do research, you won't know if there's a cure."

The group left Glasgow on June 20 and will complete their trip on Saturday.

Along the way they will give a petition to the Canadian consulate in Birmingham, calling for an end to the mining of asbestos in Quebec and meet MPs in London who are campaigning for greater awareness of asbestos.

They were also joined on their trip through Derby by Shay Boyle, of Derbyshire Asbestos Support Team.

Cyclist Katrina London, a Manchester-based solicitor, said they had stopped in some of the areas of the UK most affected by asbestos.

She said: "We've met amazing women who have lost their husbands and then channelled their energy into campaigning and fund-raising."

One of these is Carol Anthony, of Woodlands Lane, Quarndon, who was at the Market Place.

She lost her husband Alan to the cancer four years ago and is on the committee of a mesothelioma research group at Glenfield Hospital, in Leicester.

The cyclists were also greeted by several men living with asbestos-related illnesses, including Ken Harris, 62, of Derby, who has a lung condition known as pleural thickening.

Joanne Carlin, co-ordinator of the Derbyshire Asbestos Support Team, helped organise the Derby meeting.

To sponsor the cyclists go to www.justgiving.com/breathtakingjourney