Flying from Southend Airport is almost stress free for smokers, according to a lobbying group.

FOREST, which stands up for smokers' rights, has commended the airport in a UK-wide survey.

Along with Heathrow and Gatwick, Southend has been praised for its "tolerance and common sense" to smokers.

FOREST - the Freedom Organisation for the Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco - has placed it near the top of its league table of 47 airports for having sufficient designated areas for smokers in parts of the terminal.

Campaigns director Martin Ball said: "We applaud Southend for ignoring the anti-smoking hysteria and adopting such a progressive attitude.

"With 15 million smokers in the UK alone, it makes practical and economic sense to accommodate them and I am sure tourists and business people appreciate this facility."

Airport director Roger Campbell said with few passengers compared to the major London terminals, smoking wasn't too much of an issue at Southend

He added: "If we began to have a lot more passengers then we might have to review the situation because more people do appear to be opposed to smoking than not these days."

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