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According to a study more than 400,000 people in England have given up smoking because of the public ban.

The Department of Health states 234,060 people have quitted smoking with the help of the NHS Quit Smoking Service since the ban was introduced on July 1, 2007, up 22% on the previous 12 months.

The Government suggests the ban can prevent 40,000 people dying over the next 10 years. In the nine months before the ban, there was a 1.6 % reduce in the level of smoking across England. But in the 9 months after the ban, the fall was 5.5%.

A questioning of more than 3,000 people by the health charity Action on Smoking and Health (Ash) found 63% strongly maintain the ban on smoking in public places. More than 8 in ten (85%) adults also wanted retailers convicted of selling cigarettes illegally to kids to be banned from selling them in the future. A total of 59% supported banning tobacco while 65% wanted sale from vending machines to be banned.

Director of Ash, Deborah Arnott, said: “The smoke free legislation has been a fantastic success and is hugely popular. But what it also shows is a hunger for more action: the smoke free law is not an end in itself but has proven to be a catalyst for further controls on tobacco. There is still a lot more that needs to be done. In particular the Government should focus on measures to shield children from tobacco industry marketing while parents can do much more to protect children from exposure to second-hand smoke in the home and car.”