From October 2015 it will be illegal to smoke in cars with children
present under the biggest crackdown on smoking from the Government since
the introduction of the 2007 ban on smoking in public places.
The Department of Health (DoH) said the tighter regulations laid
before Parliament to make private vehicles carrying under-18s smoke-free
were formulated with the aim to “protect young people from the serious
health harms of smoked tobacco”.
The new plans will result in a fixed fine
of £50 being given to people who smoke, or those who fail to prevent
others from lighting up within private vehicles also carrying children.
Early in the New Year there will be a vote on the subject, involving
both MPs and peers. Following this, there will be a period of three
weeks for them to thoroughly assess the proposals put forth by the
Department of Health.
This appears to be a formality though following a majority approval
by MPs earlier in the year. Back in February MPs voted 376 to 107 – a
majority of 269 – in favour of the ban, first suggested by Labour as an
amendment to the children and families bill. The majority vote even
eclipsed that which resulted in the smoking ban from July 2007,
forbidding smoking in areas such as pubs, restaurants and nightclubs.
Most of the country could be behind the ban according to a YouGov
poll for the anti-smoking group Action on Smoking and Health (ASH),
which discovered that 77% of adults – including 64% of those who
actually smoke – were behind the plans to make it illegal to light up in
cars carrying anyone under the age of 18.
The legislation would criminalise smoking from parents, carers or
other adults in a car where there is anyone present under 18. According
to the British Lung Foundation, there are about 430,000 children that
are exposed to second-hand smoke each week in a family car.
Dr Penny Woods, the charity’s chief executive, raved about the Government’s plans, saying she was “delighted” by the proposals.
She said: “We are now closer than ever to helping protect the
hundreds of thousands of children exposed to dangerous concentrations of
second-hand smoke in cars every week.”
ASH were also happy with the plans to ban smoking in cars with
children, but said the legislation should go one step further and
stretch to a blanket ban which would also comprise of adults in vehicles
too.
ASH chief executive Deborah Arnott said: “We are delighted that the
Government is to press ahead with regulations to prohibit smoking in
cars containing children.
“As with the smoke-free public places law, this is a popular measure
that will largely be self-enforcing. However, second-hand smoke is just
as harmful to adults as children and it makes it more difficult to
enforce if it only applies to some cars, not all. Seatbelt laws don’t
just apply to children, why should smoke-free car laws?”
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