Non-smokers won't be too bothered by this. But those who do still enjoy smoking, where possible, may not be aware know that soon they won't be able to smoke in a car if there's any children in it.

The ban, beginning in England and Wales, has come about as a result of a five-year campaign by the British Lung Foundation (BLF), supported by over 200 senior doctors. The government estimates that 3 million children in England are exposed to secondhand smoke in their family car.

What's happening?

The new law will come into force on 1st October this year in England and Wales. In Scotland a bill was formally introduced to Parliament in December to enact a similar ban and if it goes through without problems it will become law within about eighteen months. Northern Ireland is somewhat behind the other UK countries but the Health Minister has recently announced plans for consultation on the issue.

Anyone in a car with under-18s inside will not be allowed to smoke with the penalty likely to be a £50 on-the-spot fine, with higher penalties for those who take the case to court and lose. The only exception will be for convertibles with the top down, so there could be a rise in the numbers of convertibles and woolly hats sold next winter!

Why is this being done?

The reason this has been pursued so forcefully by the BLF, as opposed to other areas where you might experience second-hand smoke, is that the atmosphere (and smoke) in a car is very closed off. The charity's research shows that the concentration of poisons in a car can be up to eleven times higher than what we used to breathe in smoky pubs.

The second point is that children don't really have a choice in the matter - if they are going somewhere with adults they can't get out if someone lights up. In the same way that many smokers voluntarily smoke outside their homes to protect non-smokers, many parents will take a break during a car journey to light up - but many others don't.

What are the benefits?

The government claims that "secondhand smoke is particularly harmful to children as they breathe more rapidly and have less developed airways. Children being exposed to secondhand smoke results in more than 300,000 GP consultations and 9,500 hospital admissions every year."

It's not just nicotine that the medical professionals are worried about. England's Chief Medical Officer, Professor Dame Sally Davies, said that smoking in a car "exposes children to high levels of air pollutants and cancer causing chemicals like arsenic, formaldehyde and tar."

Awareness campaigns

There are plans by Public Health England to launch campaigns to make people more aware of the situation and one of the first adverts is airing on TV screens at the moment. The campaigns will raise awareness of the dangers as well as the new laws arriving in October.

There may be more to come as well. There are consultations taking place in England at the moment around the feasibility of extending then ban to e-cigarettes too.

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