Banned: no more smoking in cars with children from December
SMOKING will be banned in cars carrying children from December in Scotland, the Sunday Herald can reveal. From December 5, adults who light up in vehicles where there are children aged 18 years and under will be liable for a fixed penalty fine of £100. The first anniversary yesterday of a similar ban in England and Wales has provoked questions over the effectiveness of the legislation, with figures suggesting there has been minimal enforcement.
But health campaigners said research suggested compliance with the legislation was high south of the Border, with more than eight out of 10 people aware of the ban’s existence.
The Scottish Government said a public awareness campaign will be held ahead of the ban coming into effect.
MSPs unanimously voted to introduce the ban on smoking in cars in December last year. The Smoking Prohibition (Children in Motor Vehicles) (Scotland) Bill was introduced by former Liberal Democrat MSP Jim Hume, whose mother died of cancer caused by second-hand smoke.
The fixed penalty of £100 for the offence will be double that in England and Wales.
Sheila Duffy, chief executive of anti-tobacco charity Ash Scotland, said the new law was supported by 86 per cent of adults in Scotland and even the majority of smokers – 78 per cent – backed the move.
She said: “Children have smaller airways, breathe faster, and their lungs and immune systems are still developing so they are especially vulnerable to health damage from second-hand smoke.
“Toxic particles can reach harmful concentrations within one minute of lighting a cigarette inside a car, and this law builds on the success of Scotland’s smoke-free public places legislation to offer even more protection for children, who often don’t have a choice about breathing in second-hand smoke.
“It’s also an important step towards the Scottish Government’s vision for achieving a tobacco-free generation, putting smoking out of fashion, by 2034.”
Figures obtained by the BBC earlier this year found just three police forces in England and Wales had reported breaches of the legislation in the first seven months of the ban – and all were dealt with by verbal warnings.
The first prosecution was reported only last month, when a van driver in Northumberland was caught smoking in the presence of a young child in a car seat.
Jayne Willetts, lead on Roads Policing for the Police Federation of England and Wales, said it was difficult for officers – who had not yet been given powers to issue on-the-spot fines – to enforce this law and the low number of prosecutions was no surprise.
But she added: “At the end of the day, this is a societal issue, not just one that can be solved by law enforcement alone.”
A survey carried out by the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) found that more than eight out of 10 people in England and Wales knew of the existence of the law.
Inspections of more than 250 vehicles at eight locations in England carried out as part of the research did not find any cases of the ban being flouted.
Ian Gray, principal policy officer for the CIEH, said: “Our study shows that compliance with the smoke-free private vehicles legislation has been high. People are aware of the law and during the surveys at no point were children found in a car while an adult was smoking.”
BUT Simon Clark, director of smokers’ group Forest, described the law as a “complete failure” with only one successful prosecution. He said: “We argued before the ban came in that the reality is that hardly anyone does smoke in the car with children. “We have always felt legislation is very heavy-handed and completely unnecessary as the vast majority of smokers are considerate and do know it is not a good idea to smoke in a very small confined space like a car with children present, and they simply don’t do it.”
He said the ban on smoking in cars with children was important for the anti-tobacco lobby as the first time that smoking has been banned in a private space. “This is a stepping stone towards further prohibition,” he added.
Public Health Minister Aileen Campbell said the ban in Scotland would protect children from the harm of second-hand smoke.
She added: “Smoking remains the primary preventable cause of ill health and death in Scotland. It kills one in two long-term users, costing the NHS between £300 million and £500m each year.
“Ultimately, we want to achieve a positive cultural and behavioural change like we have seen with the bans on smoking in public places, the display ban and our commitment to a tobacco-free generation.”