SMOKERS in the North-East are spending £281m a year on tobacco products, despite all the health warnings.

Figures from the anti-smoking Don't Give Up Giving Up campaign show that the average smoking household in the region spends £1,021 per year on tobacco products - nearly five per cent of the average household income.

Smokers who consume 14 cigarettes a day spend £1,050 a year while a 40-a-day smoker spends £3,000 per year.

To mark World No Tobacco Day on Monday campaigners are urging smokers to think about the financial costs of their habit, apart from the cost to their health.

NHS Smoking Helpline advisor Marie Murray said: "Smokers are often very shocked when they add up the figures and realise they spend more on their habit than they do on household basics.

"A family with two 20-a-day smokers, for example, spends £57 a week on cigarettes, more than the average household spends on food and drink.

"And when they realise how much they would save - for example, a 20-a-day smoker could swap the cigarettes for a luxury family holiday every year - it is a powerful motivation to stop and to stay stopped."

Arlene Thompson, 52, of Framwellgate Moor, County Durham, gave up smoking three-and-a-half months ago and has already saved enough money to pay for a holiday.

"Giving up was not difficult at all. I managed it with nicotine chewing gum" she said.

People who want to quit can call the NHS Smoking Helpline (0800 169 0169), visit the Don't Give Up Giving Up campaign website at www.givingupsmoking.co.uk and entering their postcode or by texting GIVEUP and their full postcode to: 88088.