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One year after smoking ban and only 54 are penalised
Ellen Widdup and Coraline Fourniols1 Jul 2008
Only 54 people and businesses have been punished for breaking the smoking ban in London despite councils receiving hundreds of complaints about lighting up.
The law banning smoking in enclosed public spaces was introduced a year ago tomorrow. Since then there have been about 700 reports of individuals and businesses failing to comply.
But only eight councils have responded, issuing 41 fines of £50 to people caught smoking in a public place, and 13 fines of £200 to businesses failing to display the correct no-smoking signs.
Hillingdon, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest and Westminster councils have between them prosecuted five businesses, while three prosecutions are under way in Lambeth. The other councils to have taken action are: Enfield, Harrow, and Southwark.
Southwark has dealt with 27 complaints and issued 22 penalty notices - accounting for almost half of all fines in London. Among the successful prosecutions was one by Westminster against sex-themed club Hey Jo's owner Dave West.
A spokesman for Tower Hamlets, which has dealt with 86 complaints, said it took reports of people failing to comply very seriously and always sent a team out to investigate.
In May it took café La Sheesh, in Mile End Road, to court after owners Imran Khan and Abu Shahid repeatedly allowed customers to smoke hookah pipes indoors. The pair pleaded guilty, and were fined £1,000 each and ordered to pay £500 in costs.
Other councils are taking a more relaxed approach. Enfield, which has issued four penalty notices, introduced beer mats with slogans warning against smoking in pubs and bars.
It gives verbal warnings before taking further action. A spokesman said: "We ran a successful campaign to engage smokers by humour rather than lecture them."
A spokeswoman for Ealing, which is among 25 councils to issue no fines, said: "It is only when a business or person repeatedly flouts the ban that we take matters further."
An Islington spokesman said: "The bulk of complaints can be put down to misunderstandings about the law." Smoke Free England, which has a hotline for complaints, said London authorities had inspected 65,601 premises and 1,670 taxis, coaches and buses. Of those, 942 premises and 57 vehicles failed to comply.
A spokeswoman said of 6,897 complaints about smoking, 2,163 had been passed on to councils to be dealt with.
• Barber Jason Martin, 34, is facing the bailiffs after refusing to pay an £800 fine for not placing a no smoking sign in his window. He says it is a "matter of principle".
Lambeth council wrote to the owner of the New Image barbershop in Streatham High Road telling him to put up nosmoking signs, but he was on holiday when the letter arrived.
By the time he had returned the council had issued a £200 fine. Since he refused to pay and respond to a summons the sum increased and his hairdressing equipment could now be seized.
Mr Martin, who opened the shop 10 years ago, said: "It's ridiculous. Not once has anyone from the council been to see me. If they had, they would see we have no smoking here."
Mr Martin has now placed a 6in no-smoking sticker in his window but will still not pay the fine. He said: "It's just about money for the council. We're a small business trying to get by."
• Supermarkets, fast-food restaurants and Government departments in central London have been named and shamed for failing to tidy up their staff members' cigarette butts.
Transport for London, Defra, Waitrose, Tesco and McDonalds have all been warned by Westminster City Council to clean up outside their buildings.
The council has threatened to hand out £80 on-the-spot fines to staff caught dropping their butts outside their workplace. Employers have been criticised for not installing outdoor smoking bins.
Defra's Millbank HQ, TfL's Horsferry Road offices and LU's HQ in St James's have been particularly criticised.
Councillor Danny Chalkley said: "These organisations should be doing more, and smokers really need to think about the impact they're having on our beautiful city."
• The smoking ban has saved 40,000 lives after thousands quit the habit following its introduction, a report claimed today.
Researchers say there are now around 400,000 fewer smokers in Britain which is the most dramatic drop in smoking on record.
More than two billion fewer cigarettes have been smoked in the last 12 months than the year before.
That means at least 40,000 deaths over the next 10 years will have been prevented, according to a team at University College London.
Robert West, director of the tobacco study at the university's-Health Behaviour Research Unit, said: "These figures show the largest fall in the number of smokers on record. I never expected such a dramatic impact.
"If the Department of Health can keep up the momentum, there is a realistic prospect of achieving a target of less than 15 per cent of the population smoking within 10 years."
Around 22 per cent of the adult population currently smoke in Britain. The ban made it illegal to for smokers to light up in pubs, bars offices and restaurants.
