As of today (Thursday 1st October) it will be illegal to smoke in a vehicle with the presence of anyone under age of 18. The law has been introduced to protect children and young people from the dangers of second-hand smoke.
The law applies to every driver in England and Wales, including those aged 17 and those with a provisional driving licence. It does not apply if the driver is 17-years-old and on their own in the car.
It applies to any private vehicle that is enclosed wholly or partly by a roof, it still applies if the window, sunroof, doorway is open or the air conditioning unit is on. However, the law does not apply to a convertible if the roof is completely down.
It does not apply to electronic cigarettes and all forms of nicotine vaporisers. Both the driver and smoker can be held accountable for the offence.
Chief Inspector Phil Vickers is the regional operations lead on roads policing, he said: “We will embrace the new legislation and enforce it where appropriate, we will also work with our partner agencies to raise awareness of the new law.
“Our focus remains on the Fatal 4 offences which are speeding, drink and drug driving, driving without a seat belt and using mobile phone and our approach to this new offence will primarily be to the educate smokers where we see the offence being committed.”
So many laws, so little Policing. Pointless Parliament introducing new laws which the police clearly have no interest in enforcing and no resources to do so. And no, the answer is not a higher Council Tax, it is a properly dedicated law enforcement force which spends money on the right priorities and doesn’t bog it’s officers down with admin work but rather gets them out and about and actually interested in their duty to the law abiding public.