Medics at the country’s first NHS vaping clinic for children say some are so addicted to their vape that they are taking them to bed. The clinic opened in January amid ‘alarming’ numbers of children becoming ‘nicotine dependent’.

Professor Rachel Isba, who runs the service at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool, says some start vaping as young as six and hopes to expand the clinic. “I’ll ask, ‘How long after waking do you vape?’ Some do it before getting out of bed,” she says. “It’s on their bedside table next to their phone.”

As well as offering nicotine patches and gum, the clinic offers talking therapy to help young people to manage peer pressure around vaping and to understand other impacts it has on their lives.

Around a million 11-17-year-olds have tried vaping in the UK, with an estimated 230,000 vaping more than once a week according to figures from Action on Smoking and Health (ASH). Prof Isba welcomes the Tobacco and Vapes bill which will also aim to tackle the attractive and colourful packaging used on vapes which appears to draw children in. But she also commended the bravery of young people, who she believes are aware of how bad vaping is for them.