From today it’s illegal to smoke in vehicles with children present.
The ban, which has been rolled out across England and Wales, carries a £50 fine.
But police officials say it’s going to be ‘extremely challenging’ to enforce.
Steve White, chairman of the Police Federation, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘The reality of the situation is we are struggling to attend burglaries. Should we be focusing on people smoking in cars with children in the cars or should we be focusing on burglaries?
Research into the effect of passive smoking in cars was carried out by Dr Malcolm Brodlie and Dr Anil Mandeo of Newcastle University (Picture: PA)
‘The public need to decide what it is that they want their police service to do because we are at breaking point. We simply can’t be all things to all people.’
In this case, a child is defined as anyone under the age of 18.
The penalty is still valid even if the vehicle’s windows and sunroof are open.
More than 430,000 children are exposed to second-hand smoke in cars each week, according to the British Lung Foundation.
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