| "They are going to cause smokes sales to go underground and then the only ones making any money will be the bootleggers." Mr Hepburn, who is a smoker himself, added: "Even non-smokers think this one is ridiculous. People no longer have freedom of choice. "It's people at the top trying to justify their jobs and I feel so sorry for anyone who's just starting out. "Things like price marked cigarettes get our customers in and without displays we could lose out on that." Kevin Carter, of Carters Newsagency in Dickens Avenue, South Shields said the new plans are 'ludicrous'. He said: "We're going back into the dark ages – it's just ludicrous. If the Government wants to ban the sight of them, they should just ban them altogether. "Smoking is not a good thing but the Government make millions of pounds in taxes and my feeling is if we put them under the counter where will those taxes come from?" Neil Rafferty, a spokesman for the smokers' rights group Forest, said: "This is another attempt by the Government to stigmatise smokers and make them feel bad about themselves. |