First fine for smoking with a child in the car

A MAN has been fined after being caught smoking in a car with a child in what is thought to be the first prosecution of its kind.

Jake Downing was stopped by police while he was smoking a cigarette with a child sitting beside him.

It has been illegal to smoke in a vehicle carrying someone under the age of 18 since last October, but police have so far chosen not to enforce the law.

Making it a criminal offence was hailed as a landmark in protecting children from secondhand smoke, which is linked to serious long- term health problems.

As of June this year, only three forces in England and Wales reported incidents, all of which were dealt with by verbal warnings. But now the law has resulted in a successful prosecution.

Mr Downing, 28, from Sheffield, pleaded guilty to smoking in a vehicle with a child after being stopped by police in Morpeth on May 20.

Under the law, those caught face a warning, a £50 fixed penalty, reduced to £30 if paid within two weeks, or a fine of up to £200 if convicted in a magistrates’ court. But because of a loophole, police cannot issue on-the-spot fines – unlike for speeding or not wearing a seat belt. Officers must pass details of the offender to the local authority, which should then follow up the prosecution.

Mr Downing, who was travel- ling from Sheffield to Berwick, also pleaded guilty to charges of having a defective hand brake, a defective front tyre and travelling with a passenger in the back of his van who wasn’t wearing a sealtbelt. He was fined a total of £160 and given six points on his licence. He was also ordered to pay £40 costs and a £30 victim surcharge.

Chief Inspector John Heckels, of Northumbria Police, said: ‘This legislation is incredibly difficult to enforce and that is why there has been such a low level of prosecutions.

‘This offender was prosecuted along with a number of other road traffic offences. The nature of those offences, together with the young age of the child in the vehicle, is the reason why he was summoned to court.’