'Smoking police' will target people at betting shops, bus stops and shopping centres to shock them into giving up cigarettes.
They will be asked to breathe into a monitor to show how much carbon monoxide is in their bodies, and could then be signed up to local stop-smoking services and given access to counsellors.
Pro-smoking group Forest described the campaign as a humiliating infringement of civil liberties.
Ealing Primary Care Trust, which is funding the £75,000 scheme, said it could help 2,400 people to give up.
A team of 11 young people have been employed to approach smokers, in a similar way to charity fund-raisers - nicknamed 'chuggers' - who ask passers-by for donations. Mail Online
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