Call for pub fag machines to be ditched

Pub fag machines should be replaced by nicotine gum and patch dispensers to help people quit - that's the call from Manchester's smoking tsar.

Councillor Pat Karney is leading calls to remove cigarette machines from all licensed premises as part of his five-year plan to cut the region's smoking rate from 20% to 12%.

"For years, the favourite territory of the tobacco industry has been bars, pubs and nightclubs, who have introduced millions of young people to a habit which will cost most of them their lives,"​ he told the Manchester Evening News​.

"Now is the time when we should be building on smoke-free legislation.​

"We have to be bolder and better if we are to radically reduce smoking deaths and the deadly diseases that smoking brings.

"I have been meeting Government ministers and calling for all tobacco machines to be outlawed and replaced by nicotine replacement products to encourage more people to quit smoking."

The Government announced it would consult on banning tobacco vending machines in its five-year Cancer Reform Strategy unveiled in December.