TODAY is National No Smoking Day and a hit squad is out on the streets to drive home the message and encourage people to give up the habit.

And if you've quit during the past year you could be in line for a £100 prize.

The Bournemouth SmokeStop team is visiting key locations around the town to promote the no smoking message.

Anyone who manages to grab one of the team and tells them "Quit with Bournemouth SmokeStop" will win a free pass to the Littledown Leisure Centre, and lunch.

The team will be easily recognisable carrying giant blow up cigarettes and extra large boxes of quit smoking patches.

Springborne firefighters showed support for the campaign when they doused a giant cigarette. The fire service is trying to get across its own message that fires caused by cigarettes kill more people than other type of blaze in the UK.

Julia Kilminster-Biggs, of Bournemouth SmokeStop, wants anyone wishing to quit smoking to get in touch with her team of six trained tutors who run free courses at venues around the town offering practical advice and patches or Zyban on prescription.

"Smokers are routinely achieving 70 per cent success rates in giving up smoking with Bournemouth SmokeStop," she said.

And as an added incentive the group asks anyone who has quit smoking since April last year to fill in the form in the Daily Echo, which will put them into a draw for a £100 prize.

Forms should be returned to: Bournemouth SmokeStop, Littledown Centre, Chaseside, Bournemouth, Dorset, BH7 7DX.

Bournemouth SmokeStop can be contacted on 01202 436866.