WORKERS sacked from the £757m Wembley Stadium project stepped up their protest campaign yesterday.

The former steelworkers from Cleveland Bridge, Darlington, staged demonstrations at the London venue and outside the head office of the Football Association.

Workers held a large metal chain and padlock outside the new stadium to complain they had been locked out.

Members of the GMB and Amicus unions have been protesting in the capital since having their employment contracts cancelled last month following a row over hours.

About 200 Cleveland Bridge workers lost their jobs after Dutch company Hollandia and the Fast Track agency, which had taken them on, said they had made unacceptable contract demands.

GMB general secretary Kevin Curran met some of them yesterday and said they had been used as innocent pawns in corporate games.

He said: "The GMB will do all it can, even constrained by laws that favour the whims of employers, to help them get back into work.

"Wembley is a showpiece project, and its management and employment practices should reflect that."

Shop steward Graham Caster said: "We want to be part of the Wembley project again.

"Through no fault of our own, we have been sacked and excluded from our own national stadium.