A NATIONAL stop smoking campaign which features a Bolton boy has been officially launched.

Cole Lonsdale appears in new TV adverts and on posters designed to encourage parents to quit smoking.

It is hoped that the 10-year-old’s thoughts and feelings about his mum Andrea’s smoking habit will strike a chord with others.

The poster featuring Cole, of Bailey Lane, Breightmet, was unveiled yesterday at a bus stop in Bury Road, Breightmet. The TV adverts are to be aired in the breaks during Coronation Street.

The Department of Health is behind the powerful campaign and has also released the results of new research which shows children worry about their parents’ smoking.

Nearly all youngsters in Bolton with a parent who smokes — 98 per cent — wish they would stop. And more than half, 55 per cent, would rather their mum or dad stopped smoking than gave them more pocket money.

Help is available for anyone wanting to quit the habit.

Tracey Holliday, from the Bolton Stop Smoking Service, said: “We work with lots of families to help parents stop smoking in a way that suits them best.

“All the families who’ve been successful tell us that our help and support was invaluable in helping them to give up smoking for good.”

Bolton Stop Smoking Service can be contacted on 01204 462345.