Former tobacco salesman, 57, has terminal lung cancer and plans to sue the firm which gave him 1,200

A father with terminal lung cancer may sue his former company for giving him thousands of free cigarettes, which he blames for the disease. 

Simon Neale, 57, said he was given 1,200 cigarettes for free every month while he worked for a company which later merged with British American Tobacco.

Mr Neale chose to smoke the freebies and said he became a heavy smoker as a result of his job perk. 

But last year Mr Neale was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer, which he said 'knocked him for six'. He quit smoking after finding out about the illness.

An anti-smoking charity said Mr Neale is not alone in his suffering and called for other potential victims to come forward and 'call Big Tobacco to account'.
 

Mr Neale spent four years working as a salesman for Rothmans, a British cigarette manufacturer, from 1982 to 1986.  

While he worked there, he said, he was given so many free cigarettes he often had 30,000 of them kept in a safe in his car boot. 

'It's staggering looking back on it,' he said. 'But I was told when I joined the company that I'd be getting 1,200 free cigarettes a month.  

'Working at Rothmans, I went from being an occasional smoker, a social smoker, to being a heavy smoker because I had so many cigarettes given to me.