Stubborn drivers failing to display no smoking signage

Many fleet managers are facing a backlash from drivers following the introduction of new laws governing smoking in company vehicles.

Stubborn company drivers are refusing to display no-smoking stickers in their company vehicles despite the new legislation introduced in July 2007.

Debbie Floyde, fleet manager at Emap, (publisher of industry magazine Fleet News) is reported as saying that it is a task-and-a-half actually getting drivers to display the stickers.

She explained that all its company car drivers were sent stickers by its leasing company and the amount that now say they are not in receipt of them is incredible.

Threats and educating them to the fact that they will have to pay fines if caught are the only ways of getting the message over, added Floyde.

Several other companies are reporting that driver education with the threat of fines can work, but warning drivers about disciplinary hearings was also proving effective.

The news comes as councils start to get tough on enforcing the smoking ban. An enforcement officer in north Wales recently issued a £50 fine to a driver for smoking in his boss’s vehicle.

Conwy Council, the authority that issued the fine, said that it had been sympathetic in the way it had introduced the ban by offing advice and support to businesses. But in that particular case, the smoker had disregarded his employer’s instructions and the law.