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Battling ex-smoker Terry Walker is all lit up after a dramatic U-turn by experts on electronic cigarettes.

Terry, who puffed his way through 250,000 fags in 69 years, now satisfies his ongoing nicotine craving with e-cigarettes.

And he was furious at moves to crack down – or even ban – ‘vaping’ as he believes the move would have driven many quitters back to ‘the real thing’.

Since quitting, Terry, aged 83, of Pontesbury, near Shrewsbury, Shropshire, has campaigned tirelessly to prove e-cigarettes are safe.

He has studied endless scientific papers and has bombarded the Government, the European parliament and the World Health Organisation with pleas for action.

Terry said he was delighted Public Health England had now concluded e-cigarettes were 95 per cent safer than ordinary cigarettes.

Doctors are to be allowed to prescribe the devices on the NHS and experts believe they could be a ‘game changer’ in the campaign against smoking which claims 80,000 lives a year in Britain.

“Finally, some sense has been shown,” said Terry.

“Many people have been pontificating on this subject who know absolutely nothing about it.

“They have claimed there is no proof that e-cigarettes are safe and yet the chemical in which the nicotine is dissolved in e-cigarettes – polypropylene glycol – has been used as a carrier for drug treatment in hospitals for years.

“E-cigarettes are the most successful of all nicotine replacement therapies, with a success rate of more than 90 per cent.

“Nicotine patches and tablets, on the other hand, have a success rate of less than 40 per cent.”

In April 2014, the Sunday Mercury told of Terry’s amazing achievement in quitting smoking.

He started aged13 just to keep up with his school pals.

After his first fag he kept on puffing – about ten cigarettes a day – until he had a worrying health scare five years ago.

Terry said: “I am living proof that you’re never too old to quit.

“Despite being a hardened smoker for virtually all my life, I actually found it quite easy to stop.

“I feel much healthier and about 25 years younger than my chronological age.”

Terry, a widower, recalled: “I went to see my GP because wheeziness was keeping me awake at night.

“He referred to me to a chest clinic and I was diagnosed with borderline obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD as it’s commonly known.”

The retired waste management consultant, admitted: “I used to smoke full-strength, untipped cigarettes, like Senior Service and Players.

“After the COPD diagnosis, I cut my smoking to two cigarettes a day – and then stopped altogether.

“My wheeziness has gone, which has improved my sleeping, and I feel much healthier altogether.”

Terry, who uses e-cigarettes about five times a day, is in good general health and enjoys swimming and ballroom dancing.