A FATHER who quit smoking for the sake of his children and now cycles every day is one of the faces of a lifesaving new campaign.

People who stopped smoking have been telling the stories of how they quit with help from their local NHS Stop Smoking Service.

NHS Stop Smoking Services in the North-East are ten years old this month and have helped 175,000 people to quit.

One is Brett Johnson, a 32-year-old father with two young daughters from Station Town, County Durham. Mr Johnson quit a year ago with the help of Durham and Darlington NHS Stop Smoking Service.

He said: “I quit because my second daughter had just been born. My older daughter told me she did not like to see me smoking and I felt incredibly guilty.

“I had also just started cycling to get fit, but you do not get very far when you’re smoking 20 day. Now I cycle 11 miles every morning.

“My daughters are growing older and I now have the energy and fitness levels to keep up with them.”