Lorry driver caught smoking in his cab by dog warden is fined £260

Leonard King is one of the first to fall foul of regulations that stop workers lighting up in business vehicles.

His lorry, which carried a no smoking sign, was parked when a council dog warden spotted him puffing away.

The official decided to take down the number plate when Mr King flicked his finished cigarette out of the window and drove off.

The vehicle was traced to Rhyl, North Wales, where anti-smoking legislation was introduced in April, three months ahead of England.

Work vehicles used by more than one person must be 'smoke-free at all times', according to the Department of Health. Only work vehicles used by a single driver are exempt.

Mr King, a father of two, was issued with fixed penalties for smoking illegally in his cab and for littering.

Yesterday, the 55-year-old pleaded guilty by letter to Llandudno magistrates.

The court fined him £75 and imposed additional charges of £30 for investigative costs, £65 for legal costs and a £15 victim surcharge.

The £75 litter penalty, which he had already paid, took the final bill to £260.

A spokesman for Coopers Carriers, Mr King's employer, said he was unavailable to comment yesterday because he was on delivery duties.

But his wife Janet, at their home in Rhyl, said: 'I'm disgusted by this fine. My husband smokes between ten and 20 a day.

'He's been rolling his own recently, so it doesn't make much litter.'

A spokesman for the council in Conwy - the town where the offence took place - said its three dog wardens were spearheading enforcement of smoking laws and had issued four fixed-penalty notices.

He said police community support officers would soon also be given the task.

The council has threatened to name and shame offenders to 'serve as a warning to others-Neil Rafferty, of Forest, a smokers' lobbying group, said: 'The ban on drivers smoking is the most ludicrous aspect of the law and this case shows how ridiculous it is.

'It is slightly unnerving that dog wardens are now enforcing the ban.

'There a slide into control by the state in this country.'

More than 200 smoking enforcement notices were served across England in July.

Drivers were warned last week that they could be prosecuted for smoking in their own cars if a police officer believed it had distracted them from the road.

Undercover police officers on long stakeouts are barred from lighting up in their vehicles.