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From today, new legislation in England and Wales
makes it illegal to smoke in a vehicle carrying
someone who is under 18. It is now also against the
law for a driver not to stop someone smoking in
these circumstances. The fine for both offences is
£50.
Both the driver and the smoker could be fined £50.
The law applies to every driver in England and
Wales, including those aged 17 and those with a
provisional driving licence.
The law applies:
- to any private vehicle that is enclosed wholly or
partly by a roof
- when people have the windows or sunroof open, or
the air conditioning on
- when someone sits smoking in the open doorway of a
vehicle.
The law does not apply to:
- e-cigarettes (vaping)
- a driver who is 17 years old if they are on their
own in the car
- a convertible car with the roof completely down.
The new law follows an experiment by Newcastle
University, Public Health England and Fresh Smoke
Free North East which revealed that even with a car
window open, levels of dangerous chemicals were over
100 times higher than recommended safety guidelines.
The change in the law is to protect children and
young people from the damaging effects of secondhand
smoke, which can put them at risk of serious
conditions such as meningitis, cancer, bronchitis
and pneumonia, and make asthma worse.
Professor Dame Sally Davies, Chief Medical Officer,
said: "This legislation is a landmark in protecting
children from secondhand smoke. Smoking just a
single cigarette in a vehicle exposes children to
high levels of air pollutants and cancer-causing
chemicals like arsenic, formaldehyde and tar, and
people often wrongly assume that opening a window,
or letting in fresh air, will lessen the damage".
Professor Kevin Fenton, National Director for Health
and Wellbeing at Public Health England, said:
"This experiment unearths shocking data, reflecting
again that there is no safe way to smoke in a car
with a child. Not matter what the situation, they
will always be exposed to dangerous chemicals which
can put them at risk of developing serious health
conditions."
From today, it will also be illegal for retailers to
sell e-cigarettes or e-liquids to someone under 18
and for adults to try to buy tobacco products or
e-cigarettes for someone under 18.
For more information
https://www.gov.uk/
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