PLANS by a Leigh couple to persuade Asda supermarket to drop its plans to allow cigarettes in its cafeteria have gone up in smoke.

Arthur Quayle, 64, has been a smoker for the past 50 years, while his wife Annie, 62, has been smoking most of her life.

They have handed in a petition signed by 20 fellow smokers in an attempt to get the store to change its new policy which came into force on Monday.

Under the new rules customers will not be allowed to smoke in its cafeteria.

The rules came into force following a survey among customers across the country which showed the majority were opposed to smoking.

Arthur, of Twist Lane, was, however, unmoved. He said: "I enjoy a cigarette, and, after spending ages shopping, my wife and I like to go to the cafe to sit down and have a drink and a smoke.

"We don't think Asda should stop customers smoking if they are also providing a non-smoking area as well."

He dismissed suggestions that smoke has no frontiers and still drifted into non-smoking areas by saying: "If extractor fans are not sufficient that is the fault of the store.

"I don't feel guilty about it. I think smokers are being singled out, and it's quite easy to object to something and force policies like this on those who do smoke.

"But nothing is done to stop pollution from cars and that's just as bad if not worse.

"On Friday we got 20 signaturesy from other customers in Asda and we have handed it it to the service manager."

But Asda spokesperson Charlie Hobson, speaking from the company headquarters in Leeds, said: "Our new policy is here to stay.

"While we want all our customers to be happy with us we have to take into consideration what the majority of our customers want and they have clearly asked for no smoking in our cafes.

"These days more and more people are eating meals rather than just having a drink in the cafes and most of our customers said it would be better if we introduced a no-smoking policy which we now have.

"It isn't a moral issue on our part but merely the wish of what the majority of our customers want."

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