SMOKING a cigarette ended up costing a Lowestoft man �150 – after he was prosecuted for lighting up in a pub.

Alan Dewing, 62, was fined �50 and ordered to pay �85 in costs and a �15 victim surcharge after he pleaded guilty to smoking at the Bank Stores pub in Commercial Road.

Lowestoft Magistrates' Court heard last Thursday that Dewing was spotted smoking at the pub by a Waveney District Council officer on August 25.

Victoria Nutley, prosecuting for the council, told the court: 'He (the officer) observed him smoking in the lobby area before returning to the bar.'

Dewing, of Maidstone Road, Lowestoft, was appearing before magistrates because he had failed to pay a �50 fixed penalty notice issued by the council for the smoking offence.

Representing himself, Dewing said he had been half-way out of the pub at the time he lit up.

He also queried why two other people who were also smoking at the time had not been prosecuted and claimed the council officer held a grudge against him from when he ran a pub.

Dewing, who lives on a pension, was prosecuted under the smoking in a smoke-free place provision of the Health Act 2006.

As previously reported in The Journal, the landlady of the Bank Stores, Paula Fox, was fined by magistrates for allowing Dewing to smoke in her pub in contravention of the Act.

Fox pleaded guilty to failing to prevent smoking in smoke-free premises and was fined �80 with �165 costs.

Smokers in Waveney are being urged to make the most of the help available from their local pharmacy to stub it out once and for all. East Coast Community Healthcare (ECCH) is holding a series of drop-in events to encourage people to get support to stop. As well as receiving help and advice, anyone who goes along will be able to get nicotine replacement therapy for the cost of a prescription, or for free if they are exempt from paying. Local drop-in events are being held in Lowestoft today at the Co-Op Pharmacy, in Westwood Avenue, from 1pm to 3pm, and on Friday, March 2 at Boots, in London Road North, from 1pm to 3pm. For further details or a full list of participating pharmacies call 0800 652 3477 or text QUIT to 65000.