SHOPPING centre customers are being asked to stub out their cigarettes.

From today, everyone entering the Cleveland Centre, Middlesbrough, will get the message to put out their cigarettes thanks to No Smoking signs in main walkways.

The move has been prompted by customer demand and concerns about passive smoking.

Centre manager David Ward said it would also mean an end to having to clear up hundreds of cigarette butts a day.

He said: "We hope that the new policy will mean a more pleasant environment for our customers.

"Smoking in an enclosed space is always unfair on, and unpleasant for, people who do not smoke."