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Council staff learn how to police smoking ban
Last updated at 10:30am on 15.02.07
The smoking ban comes into force on July 1
Thousands of council staff are being trained to police the smoking ban in pubs, offices and restaurants.
Ministers have given councils £30 million to pay for the constabulary of "smoking police".
The specially trained staff will patrol bars and workplaces and have the right to issue onthespot £50 fines to anyone caught flouting the ban when it comes into force on 1 July.
They will also have to power to initiate court action against any bar, restaurant, office or factory which fails to comply.
In an extraordinary extension of the powers granted to town hall workers, officers will be able to enter premises undercover and to film and photograph people for evidence.
Local authorities will take responsibility for enforcing the ban so it does not consume police time. But the pro-smoking lobby believes the plan is a waste of public money.
The British Beer and Pub Association condemned the Government's move as "heavy handed and elaborate". The ban will apply to most public spaces including train stations, factories, offices and bars. Anyone breaking the new laws faces a £50 fixed penalty, which could rise to £200 if taken to court.
Business owners are liable to a £2,500 fine if they fail to enforce the ban.
More than 1,200 council officers are being fully trained on how to police the ban, they will then brief town hall staff.
In London, there are expected to be several hundred anti-smoking officers, with at least 40 patrolling Westminster.
Ian Gray, chief trainer for the government course, said people were "pretty law-abiding" and undercover filming would only be used in "exceptional cases".
But Simon Clark, director of smokers lobby group Forest, said the scheme would be a "waste of public money".
Reader views (14)
I'm a smoker but do not have problems with this ban. It is possible for smokers to refrain from smoking if they have to - when I fly long-haul I cannot smoke and do not have issues with it. I totally understand why people object to others smoking around them - even I can't stand the stale smell of smoke or disgusting, smelly ashtrays. One day I will be a non-smoker and hopefully the next time I give up it will be permenant. Why do I smoke? I only wish I knew but it is very hard to give up. Manufacturers should be banned from putting the addictive chemicals in them then it would not be such a problem but the government won't intervene because the revenue they get from them runs into billions of pounds. Why do you think they're increasing tax on just about everything else - they'd have to recoup their money from somewhere if half the smokers suddenly decided to give up.
- Julie, London, England
Smokers have to understand that their smoke DOES affect non smokers. It stinks and is bad for other non smokers to have to smell and inhale the air surrounding such a filthy habit. Smoke seems to spread out and penetrate well beyond the smokers personal 6ft radius.
- Terry, Hounslow
No problem up here in Scotland where we have been smoke-free for a lovely long time - it's great and I hope you all enjoy it as much as we do!
- Annie, Scotland
Not before time, I am sick of breathing other peoples smoke. If you don't break the ban you will have nothing to worry about and us non smokers won't have to breathe in your cancer causing smoke. Everyone is a winner!
- Karen, Paddington
I am completely in favour of a ban on smoking in pubs and restaurants. I am completetly opposed to an army of jobsworths spying on people to see if they break the law. No one spys on people, apart from motorists, to see if they are going to commit other crimes. Just imagine, every stranger in a pub is going to be viewed with suspicion in case they are one of the 'watchers'.
I can see violence happening if at the end of the evening an enforcement officer hands out notices to the few who have been breaking the rules. The only way he/she is likely to leave the pub is in an ambulance.
- Pam, Hatfield
And what will happen if they don't pay the fines?
Will even more rapists, murderers and paedophiles be set free to make room for the REAL criminals, the smokers?
- Michael Wallis, UK
While I do not smoke, I accept that some people do and hence avoid the pubs where they congregate. I would never have thought that it would become illegal to smoke in public places. That is left to the loonies in California.
- Graham, Reading, England
George Orwell got his dates wrong but nothing else. According to this government I can walk down the street smoking a spiff and I won't be arrested, seeing as they show little regard for smoking a drug that affects your personality, but God help you if you smoke tobacco. The smoke police will come after you. Hum, we've had the Politically Correct Police, the 'Elf and Safety' police, and now the Smoke Police. Don't the police arrest murderers and rapists anymore, they obviously won't have time in future. What a country!
- Sue, Orpington, Kent
Isn't it interesting that the people that make the laws are above the law. As I understand they will still be allowed to smoke in the commons bar. So the saying that some are more equal than others rings true here.
- Paul, UK
If someone was annoying me by smoking somewhere they shouldn't and were blatantly disregarding rules set up for the good of everyone then I wouldn't think twice about informing someone about it and 'shopping' them. It downright rude and selfish on their part and smokers have ruled the roost for far too long now.
- Elizabeth, Slough
I'm very glad this is going into effect. I cannot stand going home after a night on the town smelling of cigarettes - it's absolutely vile. And it's not the same as drinking as alcohol doesn't linger or cause you to not be able to breathe properly. Some of us were born with weak lungs, you know!
- Machinima Man, Ealing
Isn't it funny that we can find money to fund this trivia, yet our troops can not get the body armour they deserve.
- Dave Davies, Basingstoke
Allowing bars to police themsleves would be hopeless. If there are three pubs in an area, and one is a smoking kids' place, one a nice pub that allows smoking, and one is a dive that bans it, what choice do I as a non-smoker have? Smoking has prevailed for 300 years, now it's our turn. Just accept it.
- Martin H. Watson, Teddington, England
This smoking ban is an outrage. Why can't we be civilised like Barcelona? Their policy is clear and fare. The bar/restaurant says on their door 'You can smoke here' or 'You can't smoke here'. Now councils are wasting millions employing people to go around with little cameras to catch people smoking. Piffle. Bars should be able to police their own premises. I'm sure non smokers would cause a stink if some poor smoker lit up. And if they got away with it, big deal.
- Mark Howard, London UK
