CASH raised by lawyers walking across Scotland in aid of Clydebank Asbestos Group (CAG) has been handed over.

Staff from Digby Brown Solicitors raised thousands earlier this year through a 20-mile hike from Croy to Clydebank’s International Asbestos Memorial.

The journey was planned to mark each of the 20 years since asbestos has been banned in the UK.

CAG chairman Bob Dickie said: “We are incredibly humbled by the supportive efforts shown by the team at Digby Brown.

“It’s generous donations like this that have helped us help others since 1992.

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“I would therefore like to extend a deep and warm thanks to this incredible team for their efforts in supporting not just the charity but the individuals and families who will benefit from this donation as a result.”

The Croy-to-Clydebank walk last month raised more than £8,400.

Clydebank Asbestos Group received £4,247.20, as did east coast support group Asbestos Action.

Fraser Simpson, partner and head of industrial disease at Digby Brown, said: “Community-led support groups provide vital services that thousands of people have relied on and will continue to rely on in the future.

“It therefore fills us with great pride to play a small part in these efforts. We see first-hand the physical, emotional and practical trauma experienced by sufferers of asbestos-related diseases and indeed their loved ones.”

Thousands of Scots have been affected by breathing in asbestos fibre over the decades, leading to benigh conditions such as pleural plaques or cancers such as mesothelioma.

About 5,000 people in the UK die every year from asbestos-related conditions.