FOI 10-2025 / Jan 2025 / Smoking in vehicles
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 10-2025
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 3rd January 2025 as follows:
I am submitting an FOI request for the following information relating to smoking in cars.
- How many fines and fixed penalty notices has your force issued under the Children and Families Act 2014 for smoking in a private vehicle with children (under 18 years old) present?
- How many incidents and warnings under the Children and Families Act 2014 for smoking in a private vehicle with children (under 18 years old) present has your force identified?
Please return data broken down and split annually from 1st January 2015 to 31st December 2024.
Please accept my sincere apologies for the delay in providing the response to your request and for any inconvenience this may have caused. Please find the Warwickshire Police response set out below.
Response: Please be advised that some of the requested information is not centrally recorded and is therefore not held in a readily retrievable format. Regarding Q2, there is no call type or disposal code for identifying incidents relating to ‘smoking in a vehicle’, and therefore, in order to determine a response to this part of the request, a manual search of all incident logs recorded in the specified period would be required. In addition, whilst an officer may make a note of issuing words of advice or a verbal warning in relation to smoking in a vehicle, there is no method by which this could be located except by further manual review of all officers’ pocket notebooks for the specified period. Such searches would take an inordinate amount of time and would exceed the amount to which we are legally required to respond, i.e., the cost of locating and retrieving the information exceeds the ‘appropriate level’, as stated in the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004.
In accordance with Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, this letter acts as a Refusal Notice for this part of the request.
In accordance with Section 16 of the Act, I have a duty to provide advice and assistance; however, I am unable to suggest a way to revise this part of the request into one that could be answered within the fees limit.
As a gesture of goodwill, I have provided a response to Q1 below. When considering the information, please note that it was obtained by searching for offences classified under codes HA06013 and HA06014:
- Smoking in a vehicle in which a child was present – England
- Person in control / manager of vehicle fail to prevent smoking in that vehicle when child present – England
Q1 response: Nil.
Every effort has been made to ensure that the information provided is as accurate as possible.
Your attention is drawn to the below which details your right of complaint.
Should you have any further enquiries concerning this matter, please write or email the Freedom of Information Unit quoting the reference number above.
Yours sincerely
Freedom of Information Officer
Freedom of Information Unit
Warwickshire Police
PO Box 4
Leek Wootton
Warwickshire
CV35 7QB