You have to smile sometimes.
Vehicles which are primarily used for business purposes by more than one person are legally obliged to display a No Smoking sign. A driving school car will almost certainly be primarily used for business, and by definition will have more than one person in it the vast majority of the time, meaning that it is used by more than one person.
A No Smoking sign costs £0.69 (not much – that price was correct when I wrote this). You only need one of them.
A solicitor who advertises online says:
All vehicles covered by the ban should display no-smoking signs, with the no-smoking symbol at least 70mm in diameter, in each compartment of the vehicle in which people can sit. The penalty for not displaying a sign is a fixed-penalty notice of £200, reduced to £150 if paid within 15 days, or a maximum fine of £1,000 if convicted by a court.
The company has a duty to prevent smoking in smoke free vehicles. The penalty for not doing this is a maximum fine of £2,500 on conviction. Compliance requires that the company take reasonable steps, which in addition to displaying signs as above might include…
There’s not a lot of verbal or literal clutter in there. It isn’t rocket science. Well, it shouldn’t be.
So it always amuses me when you see instructors trying to argue that their school car isn’t a company vehicle, isn’t used primarily for business, or just openly bragging at how they’re never, ever going to display one because it’s against their “rights”. Right on, brother! And for an encore, you could maybe do some stand up comedy for the (non-)amusement of your fellow leftie instructors.
As I say, a clear plastic sign (which peels off easily) costs 69 pence not much. You can stick it where your tax disc holder used to go, or anywhere else where it isn’t obstructing your view.
It’s a 69p cheap sign, for goodness sake!
Do I need a No Smoking sign in my school car?
Technically, you’re breaking the Law if you don’t. However, almost three years since the Law changed, you see loads of people smoking in their works vehicles, even when they have signs installed, so it clearly isn’t being enforced.