SOUTHAMPTON workers who develop a lung condition associated with asbestos will still be able to claim compensation after insurers failed in a legal bid to stop paying out.

Insurance companies had challenged payment to people suffering from pleural plaques, a benign scarring of the lung lining, as they said the condition was not severe enough to have an impact on the body.

However, yesterday a High Court judge ruled compensation should still be paid out to sufferers, although he cut the amount by half in a test case that could affect thousands of local people.

Today legal experts said the judgement recognised the fact that the full extent of asbestos exposure had yet to hit - and that there was only a limited pot of money to be paid to claimants.

Martin Pettingell, a partner with solicitors Clarke Wilmott, which has a Southampton office, said: "Although pleural plaques in themselves are not particularly dangerous or life-threatening, they are crystal clear evidence of exposure to asbestos dust.

"People who have them are living in constant fear that they could go on to develop fatal mesothelioma or lung cancer."

Mr Pettingell said the ruling recognised the psychological damage suffered by people with

pleural plaques.

However, the reduction in payment also acknowledged the fact that the number of claimants was rising and it could be ten to 15 years before the full extent of the disease is known.

As reported in the Daily Echo, Hampshire shipbuilder VT has set aside £15m to cover asbestosis and other work-related claims following the collapse of its insurer.

No one was available at the firm today to comment about the ruling.

Two people die from an asbestos-related disease in Hampshire every week - one of them in Southampton. The county is one of the worst areas in the UK for this type of industrial disease.

Experts have warned the situation will get worse, with a lag time between exposure and disease symptoms of between 30 and 50 years. Doctors say it could be 2020 before the number of cases peak, as former dock and railway workers hit their 60s and 70s.

The peak of exposure to the fibres was in the 1960s, with the practice continuing until 1983.

Yesterday's ruling will mean typical compensation payouts for pleural plaque sufferers of between £6,500 and £7,000.