Ban on tobacco smoking in private cars a step nearer

Legislation banning tobacco smoking in England is likely to be extended to private vehicles carrying children and young people under the age of 18, according to a statement by the Department of Health published on the GOV.UK website.

The government said yesterday that it had responded to a consultation on proposals to make private vehicles tobacco smoke free when carrying young people by laying the necessary regulations before parliament.

According to the statement, the majority of respondents to the consultation were said to have agreed that reducing young people’s exposure to second-hand smoke was important.

‘We will introduce the regulations to allow new rules to come into force in October 2015, subject to parliamentary approval,’ the statement said.

‘The changes would become part of the existing [tobacco] smoke-free laws and would make it an offence to smoke or to fail to prevent smoking in a private vehicle with someone under the age of 18 present. The proposed regulations would not apply to a driver on their own in a car.’

Meanwhile, UK Public Health Minister Jane Ellison said that second-hand smoke was a “real threat” to children’s health and that the government wanted them to grow up free from the risks of smoking.

“The only effective way to protect children is to prevent them breathing second-hand smoke and our plans to stop smoking in cars carrying children will help us to do this,” she said.

“We’ll now debate the regulations in parliament and, if approved, the rules should come into force next year.”