A smoker claims he was discriminated against by an Oxford guest house after telling staff about his habit.

Kamal Parsi-Pour said workers at Burlington House, in Summertown, slammed the phone down on him when he tried to make a booking, even though he promised to observe their non-smoking policy.

Kamal Parsi-PourAcademic Mr Parsi-Pour, 30, was visiting the city to find somewhere to stay before starting his job as an assistant at Oxford University's modern history department.

He said: "This incident has left me with a bad impression of British hospitality. I'm used to travelling in Britain and I'm always warmly welcomed, but I guess there are some people who have a problem with smokers.

"If I had been a tourist, visiting for the first time, I wouldn't have thought it was very welcoming at all."

As a seasoned traveller, Mr Parsi-Pour, from Switzerland, said he knew how difficult it was to find accommodation where guests could smoke.

He said: "I have no problem staying somewhere with a no-smoking policy and I respect their rules. But in this case they were against the smoker - not the smoking.

Royd Laidlow, owner of Burlington House, in Banbury Road, said: "I just wasn't happy with this particular booking. I have had bad experiences in the past."

Forest, the pro-smoking organisation, is now advising smokers not to admit their habit if they want to stay in no-smoking accommodation.