CAMPAIGNERS seeking political change have to be prepared to travel a long and difficult road, often with little prospect of success.

Clydeside Action on Asbestos, the group formed 23 years ago to tackle one of the deadliest legacies of Scotland's industrial past, has travelled that road but it has also gone on to achieve incredible successes, and washonoured last night by being named the Public Campaign of the Year, an award presented by actress Barbara Rafferty.

In recent years, the action group has scored two dramatic legal victories. Less than two years ago, members secured an amendment to the Mesothelioma Damages Bill to end the agonising choice faced by victims forced to decide between claiming damages for themselves, or waiting so that their relatives could perhaps secure greater compensation after their death.

Then, in October last year, came a bombshell ruling from the House of Lords ending the right of those diagnosed with another asbestos-related condition, pleural plaques, to claim compensation.

The campaigners and their solicitors, Thompsons, drafted legislation, the Damages (Asbestos-related Conditions) (Scotland) Bill, and the bill has successfully passed through its committee stage and is well on the way to becoming law.

The legal firm said: "This short, sharp and successful campaign is a classic example of a grassroots organisation using its awareness of the impact of legislation on ordinary people to galvanise public and political support to restore justice to the victims of asbestos exposure."

The judging panel was also full of praise for two other campaigns. John Muir raised 16,000 signatures for a petition demanding tougher laws on knife crime after his son, Damian, was stabbed to death in an unprovoked attack on the streets of Greenock.

Meanwhile, Tina McGeever fought on after the death of her husband for the right of cancer patients to pay for top-up drugs within the NHS.