A leading Shropshire firm has praised an NHS stop smoking service which helps 2,000 county workers kick the habit each year.

Driver training specialists, the TTC Group, found that a quarter of their staff smoked – many under 30 - so called Help 2 Quit, who sent in trained nurses to regularly visit volunteers who wanted to stop.

“They came into the office every Thursday and we would blow into a monitor to measure the amount of carbon monoxide in our lungs. Over the weeks you could see the reading go down and it spurred me on,” said David Finney (29), an IT administrator at the Hadley Park firm in Telford.

“It was a really good scheme. They also gave you nicotine patches and an inhaler which helped. It was more of a mental challenge for me not to give in. It was personal pride in proving that I could do it.

“I smoked 50 fags a week so now I’m saving £15 each and every week and as we have just moved into a new house and now have a new baby, it just all made sense to give up,” said David, a smoker since he was a 15-year-old schoolboy.

TTC Automotive office administrator Dawn Curel, who smoked up to ten a day since she was 16 said: “The main reason I wanted to quit was due to health problems in my family and also to save money.

“I wouldn’t have been able to do this without the massive support from my work colleagues at TTC.”

Office administrator Ellie Cook, a 15 a day smoker for 40 years, said she would be using the money normally spent on cigarettes to pay for skiing lessons for her granddaughter.

Out of an original six volunteers, three quit completely after the 12 week session, said TTC’s HR manager Denise Westwood, who put up a poster in the open plan office to advertise the scheme.

“My MD asked me how many smokers we had and when I counted up it was almost a quarter of the staff. The Help 2 Quit, NHS service has been brilliant and we will run it again towards the end of the year,” said Denise.

Shropshire County Primary Care Trust has 14 specially trained nurses and advisors who regularly visit employees in the workplace to help them quit smoking.

“One person dies every day, Monday to Friday, in the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford just because they smoked. It’s equal to a minibus full of people dying in Shropshire or on a national scale equivalent to the Titanic sinking each and every week,” said quit smoking co-ordinator Pat Thomas.

“People smoke because they are stressed so we give them coping skills. They don’t realise that the chemicals in a cigarette actually cause stress. They learn that you don’t have to use a drug that kills you to calm down.”

For help to quit smoking among your workforce contact Help 2 Quit on 01743 366940 or e-mail help2quit@shropshirepct.nhs.uk

Pictured are Dawn Curel and David Finney with Pat Thomas of Help 2 Quit.

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The TTC Group carries out one million hours of driver training each year. It is the UK’s largest provider of drink drive education for offenders and also speed awareness courses run on behalf of police and councils. TTC also runs the National Driver Improvement Scheme and the RIDE course for motorcyclists. Contact the TTC Group, Hadley Park, Telford, Shropshire TF1 6QJ Tel: 0845 270 4363 www.ttc-uk.com