By Sarah Fitzmaurice

Three quarters of Kingston students are in favour of a proposed smoking ban extension to include outside spaces, a poll has revealed.

Of the 105 students questioned, 75 said that they were in favour of a doorway smoking ban, despite half of the respondents being smokers themselves.

Proposals by the Department of Health released this month aim to create a ‘smoke-free future’  include extending the smoking ban to include doorways and outside public areas, as well as outlining brand-less packaging for cigarettes.

Smoker Ben Radford, 18 said: “We should have to stand away from other people, it isn’t fair to the non smokers to breathe in our smoke and I wouldn’t be bothered having to go out of the way.” His views are echoed by many Kingston smokers.

First year Aleksandra Verina, a smoker who is attempting to quit said: “Non smokers should not be exposed to our guilty pleasure, and it may reduce smoker numbers.”

A minority of students polled felt that the proposals would be going too far. Maria Hauf, a Media and Culture student said:  “It would be ridiculous, I was against the original ban but this would be taking away our personal freedoms.”

Ian Appleford, Health and Safety manager at Kingston University said:  “If there is a legislative change, we will implement it. Currently we ask all smokers to remain 10 metres away from the doorway and we have signs to this effect although, some have been vandalised or removed. Smoking is an emotive issue but the legal momentum is clearly with the non smoker.”

If the ban is extended many students believe it would lead to less smokers. Adam Vanstone a Business Studies student said: “It would change the idea of smoking and the social implications of the habit and smoking would become socially unacceptable.”

The Government is aiming to cut the number of smokers to one in ten adults by 2020 as well as reducing the number of children taking up the habit.