Drivers will be fined £50 from today if they smoke with a child in the car. It's been welcomed by health charities but police say it will be 'extremely challenging' to enforce.

From today the new law, which protects children from the effects of tobacco smoke, will see the driver and any smoker fined £50 if they have someone under 18 in the car too.

October 1 also marks the launch of the annual 'Stoptober' campaign to help smokers kick the habit.

Steven Lee-Foster, director of Live Well Suffolk, said: 'This ban is a huge step in the right direction to help protect the health of children and young people.

'We also know from experience that smoking is a habit that many people take up before they are 18 after watching their parents smoke, so anything that helps to prevent this is welcome.

'With today's new law and start of the Stoptober challenge, it's an ideal time for parents to give quitting a try.'

But Steve White, chairman of the Police Federation, said it would be 'extremely challenging' to enforce the ban.

He 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?

'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.'

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