CHILDREN as young as 12 are being sold bootleg cigarettes from unscrupulous ice cream vendors outside the school gates, it emerged last night.

The situation came to light in a survey which showed that some youngsters in a North-East town had levels of carbon monoxide in their bodies measuring the same as adults smoking 20 a day.

Customs, health and community protection bosses have pledged to stamp out the lucrative trade, as well as ploughing more money into educating children about the dangers.

Darlington Primary Care Trust is employing extra staff in its smoking cessation unit in the wake of an alarming study.

New research shows that 40 per cent of 12-year-olds and 60 per cent of 15-year-olds in the town experimented with cigarettes.

Trust officer Darcy Brown said: "Some of them told us they got their cigarettes from some unscrupulous shops and ice cream vans at 25p a time."

Customs' chiefs in the North-East confirmed that there was a worrying problem with children being tempted by cheap cigarettes only yards from their schools.

Regional spokesman Rob Hastings-Trew said: "We have, on some occasions, found bags of two or three cigarettes made up for sale - and they were obviously for sale to children.

"It just goes to demonstrate that the people who deal in smuggled cigarettes are prepared to sell to anybody and this is their market of tomorrow."

Mr Hastings-Trew added: "If children start now thinking they're getting them cheap, they may do it for the rest of their lives."

Darlington Borough Council, which experienced problems last year with ice cream vans peddling cigarettes to school pupils, said the problem had faded but urged people to report any cases.

A spokesman for Middlesbrough Council said it had received a report of cigarettes being sold from an ice cream van in the past, but the authority was now leading the way in combating the illegal business.

A quarter of the UK population smokes and 125,000 people a year die as a result.