Scottish Executive gets tough on businesses that defy smoking ban

Scottish pubs, restaurants and hotels will face hefty fines if they defy the country's ban on smoking in enclosed public places, it emerged last week.

The Scottish Executive said the courts would impose fines of up to £2,500 on any establishment that permits smoking, while individuals who persistently light up could be fined up to £1,000 each.

The penalties emerged as part of Scotland's Health and Social Care Bill, published last Friday (17 December), which proposes to make smoking in enclosed public spaces an offence.

The bill is expected to come into force next spring and will give enforcement officers new powers to ensure the ban is imposed.

Andy Kerr, the Scottish Executive's health minister, said: "This will be a comprehensive ban that will cover all enclosed public places, including all licensed premises. Improvement of public health cannot and will not stop at the door of the public house."

The Health Committee is calling for industry views to be submitted by 14 February, but opinion in the industry is split.

Bob Cotton, chief executive of the British Hospitality Association (BHA), said: "We are in favour of a total ban. Not applying a total ban across the industry will encourage people to go back to drinking-only pubs, which the Government does not want because it might lead to antisocial behaviour."

The Scottish Licensed Trade Association has pledged to take legal action if a total ban is imposed, while the Scottish Beer and Pub Association chief executive Patrick Browne warned rural pubs could face closure if a ban was introduced.

"We are very disappointed. In the Republic of Ireland trade associations are already reporting the loss of 4,000 jobs and a 10% reduction in the sale of beer but the executive is not listening," he said.

A spokesman for pub chain JD Wetherspoon, which has about 40 pubs in Scotland, said: "Admittedly it will hit the industry in the short term but eventually people will get used to no-smoking venues and trade will recover. We support a total ban."

Dale Dewsbury, manager of the Andrew Fairlie restaurant at Gleneagles hotel, said: "A total ban is going to be very difficult to administer. We hope the executive is going to apply some common sense to the law."

Kerr said a newly established Smoke Free Areas Implementation Group, which includes the British Beer and Pub Association and the BHA, would be advising him on how to make the bill a reality.

For more information go to: www.smokefreescotland.com.

n Anti-smoking pressure group ASH has launched an online petition calling on Health Secretary John Reid to repeal his decision to exempt some pubs and clubs in England from smoking legislation. A spokeswoman for ASH said: "Reid gives the impression that people working in pubs and clubs do not deserve the same right to protection from second-hand smoke as a person working in a restaurant serving food. There should be no exemptions."

Go on line and sign the petition at: www.ash.org.uk/html/petition/php/petition.php

Source: Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, 23 December 2004