HUNDREDS of former steel workers at Ravenscraig are in line for a lucrative compensation pay outs after developing lung cancer and other diseases at the plant.

Former steel plant employees suffering from life-limiting and debilitating respiratory diseases or squamous cell skin cancer have just four months to register to join a group taking legal action after contracting the illnesses from working in massive coking plants.

They are all in line for compensation as insurers for British Steel have already admitted liability.

The group action comes after hundreds of people developed conditions which are likely to have been caused by exposure to harmful fumes while working at coking plants in the immediate vicinity of the coke ovens at sites such as Ravenscraig in Motherwell.

Thousands of Scots will also have been affected at the huge Corby steelworks in Northamptonshire which employed 4,000 Scottish workers at its height.

Lawyers are now urging Scots affected to contact them before the deadline as people will not be able to take action after it has passed on February 23, 2018.

One former worker Hugh Kennedy, from Hamilton, Lanarkshire died in 2003 from lung cancer at the age of 68.

He worked as a coke oven heater in the vast Ravenscraig halls every day for nearly 25 years and was exposed to extreme temperatures and sulphur fumes ever day without any protection.

Part of the job also involved climbing to the top of the coke ovens to make make repairs to the equipment which played a vital role in the steelmaking process as it fed the blast furnaces and had to be lit 24 hours a day.

Now his son, Sandy, 59, who also worked at Ravenscraig as a maintenance engineer is now fighting for justice for his father and other workers exposed to the same deadly toxins every day without even wearing a face mask.

He said: “This is not about money, it’s about justice for me and other workers who were not given adequate protection.

“Everyone knew it was a dangerous and hot place to work and to think they were offered no protection at all just goes against all the health and safety regulations around today.

“These conditions were all preventable, imagine being exposed to sulphur homes, coal dust and extreme temperatures every single day, of course it takes its toll. My dad was never in great health and there is a generation his age who have suffered the same as him.”

The Group Litigation Order was applied for after two law firms were approached by more than 340 former coke oven workers suffering health problems related to their employment years ago.

Insurers for British Steel have already admitted it was in breach of its duty owed to its employees from 1947 until appropriate respiratory protection was provided to the workforce.

Since the High Court gave approval for the group claim in January 2017, more former workers have come forward to potentially join the group action with numbers now estimated at 375.

Roger Maddocks, partner and expert industrial disease lawyer at Irwin Mitchell, said: “The workers we represent, through no fault of their own, developed serious, and in some cases fatal, respiratory illnesses and lung cancers causing them unnecessary pain and suffering when they should be enjoying their later life with their families.

“Nothing can turn back the clock but this legal action will hopefully provide them with the help, support and treatments needed to make dealing with their illness more comfortable.

“However, with the court now setting this deadline for workers to sign up we would urge anyone else who feels they were affected by the working conditions at British Steel to come forward so that they too can join the group action and ensure they do not miss out on the justice they deserve.”