A HEAVY smoker is determined to kick his habit in a bid to ensure he spends more time with his young daughter.

Peter MacGregor is down to smoking fewer than ten cigarettes a day after spending 40 years smoking and reaching between 50 and 80 a day this time last year.

The 49-year-old from Acklam, Middlesbrough, was recently a patient in The James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough, and it was there he got in touch with the hospital’s stop smoking service.

“The staff on Ward 2 and the stop smoking service are brilliant,” he said.

“They have given me every bit of encouragement I need to help me in my goal to stop smoking. I started smoking over 40 years ago, with encouragement from my brother, and this time last year I was smoking between 50 and 80 cigarettes a day.

“With their help I’m down to single figures in a day and I am determined to stop altogether – not just for me in terms of the health benefits it will bring, but I also have a 12-year-old daughter and I want to spend as much time as I can with her in a much fitter condition.”

Mr MacGregor is the 2,000th person to take advantage of the hospital’s smoking cessation sessions since it was launched in April last year.

Gill McIlhinney, stop smoking specialist advisor, said: “To have reached this milestone so soon after reaching 1,500 back in November last year is fantastic. Stopping smoking is the biggest health benefit and more smokers are now taking the opportunity while in hospital to focus on quitting.”