About Tobacco Services

Thinking about stopping smoking?

Last year, the NHS Swindon Stop Smoking Service helped over 1,200 people quit. This year that could be you.

You are four times more likely to successfully quit using the NHS Stop Smoking Services than going it alone!

There are now a range of services available to help you go smokefree - allowing you to choose an approach which suits you and your lifestyle.

Stop smoking support is available at more than 60 locations in Swindon, with appointments available in the daytime, evening and at weekends. We offer one-to-one or group support, and provide advice on stop smoking medications which we can help you to get on prescription.

Where Can I Get Help?

Stop smoking support is available at over 60 locations in Swindon, including GPs, pharmacies and community clinics.

Contact the Swindon Stop Smoking Service for more information and advice or to book an appointment.

Call us 0800 389 2229 or 01793 465513

Text us on 07881 281797

Email: besmokefree@swindon.gov.uk

Website: www.smokefree.nhs.uk

Or write to us at:

Swindon Stop Smoking Service
1st Floor
Wat Tyler East
Beckhampton Street
Swindon
SN1 2JG

Illegal Tobacco – Keep It Out

Why Is Illegal Tobacco An Issue?

Cheap Smokes. What's the Real Cost?

The Cost to Our Children

People who sell cheap smokes target underage kids to make an easy profit.  This makes it too easy for our kids to smoke… and become addicted.  It's estimated that about 25,000 children in England the UK start smoking by the age of 16 as a result of exposure to smoking at a young age. The availability of cheap illegal tobacco contributes to this. 

Often the people who sell illegal tobacco are part of organised gangs and don't have a problem selling other things like drugs and alcohol to kids also.

Illegal tobacco dealers sell loose cigarettes to kids - tripling their profits.

The Cost to Our Families

Cash-strapped parents are used by criminals to smuggle and sell illegal tobacco. People caught selling illegal tobacco face heavy fines and criminal records - often causing whole families to suffer.

It may seem like an easy way to make some extra cash in these hard times, but don't make it even harder by having to pay the legal consequences of being caught selling cheap smokes.

If you get caught dealing in illegal tobacco then you'll face more than a slap on the wrist. First time offenders could get fined up to £1,000 and this could be even more if caught selling to under 18's.

Then there's the criminal record to think about which may cost you your job and have a seriously damaging effect on future employment prospects.

Illegal tobacco smugglers can be sent to prison for 10 years.

The Cost to Our Community Safety

Cheap smokes sold in your local pub or playground can often be traced to criminal gangs.

The illegal tobacco trade is linked to serious organised crime and profits strengthen gangs and their grip on vulnerable people.

If people keep on buying cheap cigarettes, this will eventually lead to even more people buying cheap smokes within our localities and when this happens criminal gangs will start to see our regions as a place where they can turn a tidy profit.

Profits from illegal tobacco only benefits the people who sell it - they con us all.

The Cost to Business

The illegal tobacco trade is big business for dealers who reap the profits of selling cheap smokes without having to follow trading rules.   Tobacco trading rules are there to ensure that products are only sold to adults and that proper health warnings are on display. Honest retailers cannot compete with illegal tobacco sellers causing local businesses and economies to suffer.

Illegal tobacco costs the UK economy around £2 billion every year.

Everyone likes a bargain but anyone buying illegal cheap cigarettes or tobacco may end up with more than they bargained for.

Help to protect your community.  This isn’t a victimless crime.  Please report it.

If you suspect a shop, premises or person selling cheap supplies of tobacco in Swindon, please report it to CrimeStoppers on 0800 555 111 (your anonymity will be respected). 

For more information visit: www.stop-illegal-tobacco.co.uk/

Swindon Borough Council, Swindon Primary Care Trust, Wiltshire Police, Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service, Wiltshire Probation Area, Wiltshire Police Authority, Great Western Ambulance Service NHS Trust

©Swindon Borough Council 2004-09