Wales ban stubs out smoking in public places

Smoking in pubs and bars in Wales will become illegal today when the ban on smoking in enclosed public places begins at 6am.

Anyone caught lighting up will face a £50 fine and the Welsh Assembly Government has embarked on an advertising and publicity campaign to warn people the ban descends on Wales before England.

English smokers will not have to stub out their cigarettes until July 1 and a backbench bid to delay the Welsh ban and bring both sides of the border into line was defeated in the Assembly earlier this year.

Ministers say Wales's three smoke-free months could save 100 lives as passive smoking kills 400 people a year in Wales.

Wales was the first part of the UK to call for a ban, but because of the Assembly's limited law-making powers it had to wait until Parliament passed legislation last year.

It follows the scrapping of prescription charges yesterday (Sunday) - two flagship health policies introduced in the run-up to Welsh Assembly elections on May 3.

Landlords and managers who do not display adequate no-smoking signs will be fined £200. They will face a fine of up to £2,500 if they allow people to smoke on their premises.

Anyone issued with a penalty notice can challenge it in court in the same way as a speeding ticket.

Welsh theatregoers will also notice a difference. There is no exemption for actors on stage and on filmsets if their character is directed to smoke. Actors in England will be allowed to smoke on the night, but not during rehearsals.

Wales's health minister Brian Gibbons said: "There is not going to be a punitive, draconian approach to this.

"We felt as an Assembly Government we should strive to get this ban in place seeing as the view of the Assembly has been known on this for quite a long time.

"I would be shocked if there is anybody who this is likely to affect in Wales who doesn't know that the ban is coming in."

The Scottish Executive heralded its year-old ban as a success last week when it said there had been more than 46,000 attempts to quit smoking since it began.

A BBC survey this week found one in five working men's clubs in England and Wales thought they would have to close as a result of lost trade if customers could not smoke.

Philip Lay, retail director at SA Brains, Wales's biggest independent brewer and pub operator, said: "The only certainty is that business is going to go backwards for a while."

The brewery has built smoking areas at some pubs and put up umbrellas and outdoor heaters at others, he said.

"At one pub we went a little bit further and actually lifted the roof off part of the pub to create a courtyard.

"The difficulty is in explaining to people what constitutes an area they can or cannot smoke in."

Ben Cottam, of the Federation of Small Businesses in Wales, said: "It's inevitable - the debate has moved a long way past whether or not there should be a ban.

"We have certainly asked our membership to keep and eye on the enforcement and on whether the enforcement is heavy-handed and we will certainly be raising that with the Assembly Government.

"Every business by now has had information directly from the Assembly Government - but your average guy on the street, who probably reads a UK-based newspaper, might not have seen much of the advertising surrounding it."

Health campaigners have welcomed the ban.

The British Medical Association's Welsh secretary, Richard Lewis, said: "This is the greatest public health initiative in Wales for over a century. The BMA has campaigned hard for years for it.

"We will see immediate benefits and over the long term the lives of thousands of Welsh men and women will be saved."

Action on Smoking and Health Wales spokeswoman Tanya Buchanan said: "The powers are here now and I guess that as soon as the powers were here we made it pay and that's very positive."

British Heart Foundation in Wales public affairs manager Delyth Lloyd said: "The introduction of a smoking ban in all workplaces in Wales will be an historic milestone for the nation's health.

"Not only will it be good news for non-smokers, who will be protected from second-hand smoke, but it represents the perfect time for smokers across Wales to attempt to give up for good."

Copyright Press Association 2007

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