HUNDREDS of residents packed a school hall to hear how they can sue the whisky industry for hundreds of millions of pounds.

The meeting in Bonnybridge, near Falkirk, was set up by a US lawyer who is set to mount a legal fight against whisky bosses over claims a black fungus is blighting Scots homes.

Kentucky-based William McMurry is already battling bourbon distillers in America and is targeting a number of Scots towns in the next stage of his battle to win £450 million compensation for damage to property values allegedly caused by the spread of the harmless but unsightly fungus, which can cover the exterior of houses as well as gutters, patio decking, paving slabs and fences.

Bonnybridge, which has whisky warehouses owned by drinks giant Diageo, was chosen as the legal team's first stop because local man Tom Chalmers contacted Mr McMurry for help.

The lawyers also want to force distillers to fit equipment to eliminate the ethanol escapes, claiming that will stop the fungus. Known as baudoinia, it is thought to thrive on ethanol released from whisky premises.

The legal team say a number of communities are affected by the mould, including Tullibody and Menstrie in Clackmannanshire, Leven in Fife, Kilmarnock, Shieldhall in Glasgow and Dumbarton.

The industry has previously said it does not accept responsibility for the mould and highlighted a similar blackening in Cornwall, where there are no distilleries.