Ban on smoking in cars with children welcomed by CIEH

CIEH’s Principal Policy Officer Ian Gray said: “Existing smokefree legislation already successfully protects children from the harms of second-hand smoke when they are travelling in all forms of public transport.
 
“The requirements of the Smoke-free (Private Vehicles) Regulations 2015 will soon protect them when they are travelling in private vehicles.”
It will soon be an offence to smoke in a private vehicle with a child onboard, and it will be the driver’s responsibility to prevent passengers from doing so.   
 
A fixed penalty notice of £50 can be issued for both offences.
 
Mr Gray said the regulations “add police forces as enforcement authorities for smoke-free private vehicles because, unlike local authorities, they are able to request that a vehicle stops if they suspect that an offence is being committed.

“Local authorities will also be able to enforce the proposed regulations, and there will be an important role for local authority regulatory officers in working jointly with the police on local enforcement activities, as well as continuing their efforts to build compliance for smoke-free legislation generally.”

The new laws will come into force on 1 October 2015 to allow for sufficient training of enforcement officers and to raise public awareness of the regulations.
 
During this period, Public Health England will deliver a campaign to raise awareness of the new regulations.
Mr Gray concluded that the new regulations would be judged on “how behaviour, attitudes and health outcomes change in time and there is a statutory requirements for the Government to review the regulations within five years of their coming into force.”