The smoking in cars ban is proving difficult to enforce. Why is that, then? Well, quite apart from police officers not having the time, energy and willingness to peruse cars to see who is in them and who is smoking, which is a pain in itself, there is the tortured logic behind who can issue the penalties – and it ain’t the police, apparently.
The Chartered Institute for Environmental Health, which worked with the government on the law, said police officers could stop vehicles but not issue fines – and local authority enforcement officers could issue fines, but not stop vehicles.
“The prosecuting agent for these offences is the local authority – we’ve become the conduit in between stopping the driver and the local authority,” said Police Federation road policing lead Jayne Willetts.
So, in order to prosecute, you need a police officer to stop the car and a council enforcement officer to issue the penalty notice.
Greater Manchester Police said that even if it were able to issue fines, it was unclear to whom they should be paid, saying “neither the police or the courts can take the money – it would have to be the issuing authority (the local authorities)”.
“As it stands an officer would be unable to summons for the said offence until all is agreed and a devised system is in place.”
Y’know, I have always been opposed to these illiberal bans as a matter of principle, but when combined with the sheer, unadulterated incompetence of the state, I am beginning to think maybe I shouldn’t worry over much…
The real problem is that the council get the work in issuing the ticket, but the money goes to central government. Why should the council have the costs and not the revenue?
It’s the same problem with parking tickets.
The real problem is – there should be no ban on smoking in a car and individuals should be allowed to exercise choice and common sense on their own. Many generations grew up with alleged harmful second hand smoking all around them and fared perfectly fine, some into old age, some not, the same as with these ill-conceived smoking bans in effect, making no difference other than being more revenue generation using smokers as the usual scapegoats for everything wrong with this world. And that is the real problem, is the prejudice, hatred, lack of science and pure vindictiveness these bans encourage and legitimize, in the first place.
Adolf Hitler hated smoking. This is just another of his policies being enforced by the Forth Reich.