Senior police officers have warned drivers using e-cigarettes who obscure their vision with huge clouds of vapour that they face prosecution and losing their licence.

Although vaping while driving is not itself an illegal act, it is up to the discretion of police officers to determine what they deem as a potentially dangerous and distracting handheld electronic device.

Those deemed to be distracted by the e-cigarettes could be prosecuted for driving without due care and attention, the penalty of which can be disqualification, three to nine points on your licence, or a fine of up to £2,500.

Officers have said that vaping - which causes excessive amounts of smoke and momentarily blind drivers - could result in fatal crashes.

The warning comes as latest figures reveal over 3 million people in the UK now use e-cigarettes, with the majority of them driving.

Sergeant Carl Knapp with the Sussex Road Policing Unit said: "The smoke caused by vapes are a distraction and the consequences of them can be dire, all it takes is a moment to become distracted and potentially cause a crash and even worse, a fatality."