These Regulations extend the existing smoke-free legislation by setting out the circumstances when private vehicles are smoke-free (when they are enclosed, there is more than one person present, and one of those present is under the age of 18) and goes on to:
The existing smoke-free legislation makes enclosed public and work premises and vehicles smoke-free. There are two relevant offences:
Under current legislation, a fixed penalty notice can be issued for the offence of smoking in a smoke-free place. However, a person accused of failing to prevent smoking in a smoke-free place would be referred directly to the courts. These Regulations introduce provisions to allow an FPN to be issued where such an offence is in relation to a private vehicle.