Police roadblocks are being set up to catch drivers who are breaking the law – by smoking at the wheel of their company vehicle. Council wardens and Essex Police will carry out random inspections across the county to look for evidence of illicit cigarette use. They will even hunt for cigarette butts in the ashtrays and smell the air inside the vehicles in order to clamp down on the outlawed practice. Workers were banned from smoking in their company cars as part of the Health Act introduced in 2006. The law made it illegal in all vehicles used primarily for business purposes by more than one person. Anyone caught breaking the law faces a £50 fixed penalty fine or a possible court conviction, which carries a £200 fine.
The culprits’ employers will also be informed and also be heavily fined.
It’s true, of course, that the original legislation dates from the era of Tony Blair, but there is little to suggest that David Cameron (a role model for a new and improved GOP, I’m sometimes told) is prepared to do much about such nanny state overreach. Not long after his government took office, it opened up a website inviting Britons to suggest which overly intrusive laws should be scrapped. As one would expect, this initiative was largely bogus, but even so it was striking that within a few days of its launch it was made clear that the public smoking ban was sacrosanct, off limits, not to be discussed. The people, it turned out, were only to be consulted when they could be relied upon to give the right response . . .
No surprises there.