Drivers given grace period as UK car smoking ban begins
British police chiefs say they would ignore a new law in place from Thursday against smoking in private vehicles carrying children.
Under the Smoke-Free Regulations 2015, it will be illegal to smoke in private vehicles carrying more than one person with at least one of them below 18.
The law is aimed to reduce the impact of passive smoking and its harmful effect especially on kids. At least three million children are thought to be exposed to dangerous fumes in their family car.
But police bosses express their inability to enforce the regulation at once saying ‘education not prosecution’ is needed at the first place. “Forces will be following guidance from the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health by taking an educational, advisory and non-confrontational approach,” a spokesman for the National Police Chiefs’ Council said.
Under the law, an offender will be fined £50 on-the-spot which will be reduced to £30 if paid within two weeks. They could pay up to £2,500 if taken to court. It does not cover electronic cigarettes as they do not emit toxic substance.
However, guidelines issued to officers and quoted by media suggest motorists will be given three months grace period in order to adjust with the new regulation. A similar approach was adopted when the workplace smoking ban came into effect in 2007.
Ministers pushed through the landmark legislation on the advice of health experts. Smoking groups had welcomed the new measures but new survey reveals that a huge majority of drivers do not believe them enforceable. An RAC survey has found that 92 percent of British motorists feel the prospect of effective enforcement is unlikely.
The law has also been a cause of concern for many in the police department who say officers should not be expected to act as health workers. “Making this an offence that officers are expected to enforce just creates an unnecessary extra layer of bureaucracy. It brings us back to the whole problem of police being “everything for everyone” and, now, health workers”, a senior official at the Police Federation said
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