Does the new smoking in cars ban affect me?

The government says surveys suggest about a third of children – three million – are exposed to smoke in vehicles.

If the air was recirculating around the vehicle with the windows closed and the fan on, levels of particulate matter hit 438 times higher than the recommended safe level for children.

Under legislation that comes into effect on Thursday, the driver and smoker in a vehicle containing someone under 18 each face a fixed penalty of £50.

The only times this law does not apply is if the driver is 17 years old and on their own in the vehicle, or the smoker is in a convertible auto with the roof completely down. People can also be fined if they are sitting in the open door of the auto.

But the National Police Chiefs’ Council signalled yesterday that enforcing the new offence will not be a priority.

Ian Gray, principal policy officer for the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, said it is anticipated there will be “very high levels of compliance” from drivers.

From next week it will be illegal to smoke with anyone under the age of 18 in the vehicle. Over 80% of cigarette smoke is invisible and opening windows does not remove its harmful effect. They could pay up to £2,500 if taken to court.

And the Police Federation, which represents frontline officers, warned the laws create an “unnecessary extra layer of bureaucracy”.

Other initiatives include ASSIST, a peer-led programme to reduce smoking in schools, as well as work with children’s centres, midwives and health visitors to raise awareness of the dangers of secondhand smoke.

You can’t smoke with a child in a motorhome or caravan when they are being used as a vehicle, but you can when they are being used as living accomodation.

“We believe that the ban on smoking in all Welsh prisons in January 2016 is nearly certainly as a result of the legal action we brought on behalf of our non-smoking client, based at HMP Parc in Bridgend, which highlighted that the different Regulations in Wales do not now allow smoking in prisons at all”.

Dr Malcolm Brodlie, consultant in paediatric respiratory medicine at the Great North Children’s Hospital in Newcastle, said: “Babies and children who breathe in smoke are more likely to have problems with asthma attacks and chest infections, and need more hospital care and doctors’ appointments”.

The changes are aimed at reducing the risk of damage being caused to young people by cigarette smoke.