Which councils are issuing Fixed Penalty Notices the most to taxi drivers smoking in their vehicles?

It has been an offence to smoke in a ‘smoke free place’ since the introduction of the Health Act 2006. This includes when the driver is not working and using the vehicle in a personal capacity.

To find out which councils are issuing the highest number of FPNs for the offence of smoking in a licensed vehicle, we submitted Freedom of Information requests to councils across the UK.

The data shows that Liverpool City Council has issued 103 Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) to taxi drivers smoking in their vehicles, in the last tax year - the highest number recorded across UK councils.

Out of the 103 FPNs issued to drivers by Liverpool City Council, between the 6th April 2024 and 5th April 2025, 77 were paid within 15 days, at a reduced rate of £30. A further 16 were paid within 29 days, at a fine of £50, with 6 drivers summoned to court for not paying their fine within 29 days of the offence.

Councils can set their own FPN fines for smoking in a licensed vehicle, but it must fall within the limits of set legislation. All the councils listed below have set the following fines:

• Paid within 15 days: £30

• Paid within 29 days: £50

Source: All figures in the above table are raw figures, as supplied by each respective council.

Following Liverpool City Council, North Somerset Council issued the second highest number of FPNs for smoking in a licensed vehicle, standing at 66. All of these fines were paid within 29 days of the offence, with the number of fines paid within 15 days undisclosed.

Ranking in third is Birmingham City Council, which issued 48 FPNs, 37 of which were paid within 15 days and 6 of which were paid within 29 days. 2 drivers were summoned to court for not paying their fines: 1 case was withdrawn and the remaining driver was issued with multiple FPNs on the same day and therefore was summoned to face a littering charge instead.

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Methodology

Freedom of Information requests were sent to all councils across the UK (379) to determine the number of fixed penalty notice fines which were issued to drivers for smoking in licensed vehicles. The data requested was to cover the last tax year (6th April 2024 and 5th April 2025). The results are based on all councils which do use FPNs as an enforcement route for driving, and which responded to our request by 18.06.2025. Details of the requests have been made publicly available for you to access.