As a young worker Glenn Elkington thought nothing of it when he was ordered to mix asbestos lagging with his bare hands.

Four decades on, the legacy of his contact with the deadly substance is scarred and calcified lungs - a condition known as pleural plaques.

Mr Elkington, now 60, is among thousands of people fighting to overturn a House of Lords decision which has prevented them from claiming compensation for their ruined health.

The former plasterer, of Oakworth, near Keighley, said: "In my youth I worked all over the place but I got a job in a local mill in the late 60s and early 70s. The dangers of asbestos were not common knowledge in those days."

He and other workers mixed asbestos with their bare hands to lag a boiler at the mill on a regular basis. Mr Elkington was diagnosed with the condition last April.

He said: "I think that is where I must have contracted pleural plaques but proving it is difficult.

"My lungs are scarred and calcified and while the plaques themselves do not lead to cancer, 20 per cent go on to cause mesothelioma. I have difficulty breathing but I consider myself to be one of the lucky ones."

Mr Elkington is not optimistic about securing compensation for his fellow sufferers, however.

He said: "The most disgusting part is that those who have got it have to prove where they got it.

"The wheels of justice don't turn that fast and if you are diagnosed with full-blown mesothelioma your life expectancy is only around 18 months.

"Gordon Brown is saying he is going to look into it but I have no confidence whatever. This is a working man's disease. If MPs or office staff got it something would have been done by now."

Pleural plaques sufferers were previously awarded compensation but an appeal by insurers was upheld in the House of Lords ending the payouts.

Last month the Prime Minister said he was "determined" to take action against the decision after fierce lobbying by MPs including Bradford North's Terry Rooney.

Carol Duerdon, of the Bradford Asbestos Support Group, said: "Insurance companies are trying every trick in the book.

"It does look like the issue is going to be resolved as a Bill is being brought in in Scotland and there can't be seen to be a two-tier system.

"The MPs we speak to are positive that the change will be introduced.

"One of the major issues is that they keep saying that pleural plaques is asymptomatic but this is not always the case. Pleural plaques is an indicator of asbestosis and many sufferers go on to develop mesothelioma."

The number of cases of asbestosis continue to rise.

"When they realised how dangerous asbestos was they brought in health and safety legislation and expected the number of deaths to go down but it has gone up," said Mrs Duerdon.

"Most of us will have had some exposure to asbestos at some point in our lives. They used to use it in old people's homes, most public buildings and housing and now it is a lot more expensive to remove it. They say it is safe and they can seal it."

e-mail: paddy.mcguffin @telegraphandargus.co.uk