BUSINESSES have reacted with dismay at Government plans to press ahead with controversial plans to force cigarette sales “under the counter”.

Health Secretary Alan Johnson announced moves to ban prominent displays of tobacco products to remove temptation for “the biggest public health risk”.

The scheme has prompted storms of protest from shopkeepers who fear it will cost them business in the recession.

Mr Johnson also announced the Government was taking on powers to make it more difficult for under-18s to use cigarette vending machines, and may ban them if that does not work.

The Government says it will help businesses adapt to the changes, but Terry Taber, regional organiser of the Essex Federation of Small Businesses, said he feared a two-fold impact on shopkeepers.

He added: “Our first concern is that in the current economic climate small businesses will have to bear the cost of redesigning their shops and possibly buying new display equipment.

“Our second concern is one of security. We are currently highlighting crime against businesses which account for one in five crimes. This is an added risk in terms of security and makes thefts more likely.”

Mr Taber’s fears were backed up by newsagent Lorraine Farrow, 50, who runs a shop in Hainault Avenue, Westcliff, along with her husband Steve. She said: “There is a real concern about safety. We will have to be bending down under the counter all the time to reach the cigarettes. It is a real worry.

“We don’t know what we will do because we have such a small shop with no room to change things around.

“It won’t stop people buying cigarettes anyway. People don’t come in and see them and suddenly decide to smoke. They already smoke and even people who obviously can’t afford to smoke still keep buying them and the scary pictures they use now have no effect, so keeping them under the counter isn’t going to stop them.”

Official statistics show almost 200,000 children, aged between 11 and 15, were regular smokers in 2007.

The “overwhelming majority” of the record number of responses to a consultation on how to protect such young people from smoking backed the ban, officials have pointed out.