Smoking fine – inside or out
April 30th 2007

Smokers and employers face the beak if they don’t comply with the incoming smoking ban. ENCAMS says businesses need to act in advance of the ban and install cigarette bins outside their premises.

With the smoking ban filtering into force across the UK smokers are or soon will be stepping outside to comply with the law. Any public place caught with people smoking inside can be fined up to £2,500. And smokers lighting up where they shouldn’t, could find themselves hit with a £50 on the spot penalty.

Smokers will also need to beware when they step outside onto the pavements because if they don’t dispose of their cigarette end responsibly they could be hit with a fine of £80 for littering.

It sounds harsh but fag butts, cigarette packets and papers are the biggest litter blight – appearing on 69 per cent of our streets. Smokers must learn to act more responsibly or the streets will be awash with cigarette litter.

According to Keep Britain Tidy Chief Executive, Alan Woods, there is no excuse for not dealing with your cigarette litter properly. “Admittedly some smokers do have warranted concerns about binning their butt in a litter bin in case it sets alight, but there are other ways around it,” says Woods.

Portable ashtrays have proved a popular solution with many smokers. They extinguish cigarettes, can contain up to five butts at a time, are fire proof and do not omit any odour - which means they’re easy and safe to store in a handbag or pocket.

But that’s not the only solution. Keep Britain Tidy would like to see businesses, restaurants and bars acting in advance of the ban by installing cigarette bins outside their premises.

Not only will it stop their clients and colleagues from being hit with an £80 fine – but they will avoid their doorways turning into a giant ashtray.

“We know that the bans are coming into force and it is easy to predict the affect it will have on the state of our streets,” says Woods. “ That’s why it is vital we start to put measures in place now to make sure that levels of cigarette ends on the streets do not soar.”

Keep Britain Tidy will be launching a campaign in June this year, to find out more on how to get involved visit www.encams.org

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