Anti-smoking group blasts council's move to ban e-cigs from taxis Anti-smoking campaigners have blasted a council's decision to ban passengers from smoking e-cigarettes in taxis.
St Helens Council decided to ban passengers from using e-cigarettes as they felt drivers would find it difficult to tell if they were smoking real cigs.
E-cigarettes are not covered by the smoking ban meaning they can be used in public areas unless a business or body introduces their own policy.
But anti-smoking group Action on Smoking and Health have described the decision as "regrettable" and are calling for the ban to be rescinded.
The ban is expected to provoke anger among sellers of the cigarettes who feel their use should be encouraged to help people quit smoking more harmful products.
A spokesperson for ASH said: "I think it is a regrettable decision as they are not tobacco products.
"Smokers use e-cigarettes to help cut down or even quit smoking so by banning them they are making it more difficult to those people.
"They wouldn't put a ban on people using nicotine gum or patches so why do it with e-cigarettes.
"No-one likes breathing in cigarette fumes and they are so pungent it is easy for people to tell the difference between them and e-cigarettes.
"I think they should rescind the ban because quite simply there is no problem with smoking these cigarettes in public."
The council is standing by its decision to ban the products while saying it would be "unfair" to expect taxi drivers to check what passengers were smoking.
A spokesperson for St Helens Council said: "The council's Licensing Committee has approved a clear and easy-to-understand policy for taxis that makes it easier to enforce the general 'no smoking' rule in cabs.
"It prevents the smoking of both tobacco and e-cigarettes by either passengers or taxi drivers.
"E-cigarettes are obviously designed to look exactly like tobacco cigarettes and it would be unfair to expect drivers to start checking exactly what their passengers were smoking if there was a dispute.
"We believe this is a responsible attitude to take, bearing in mind that e-cigarettes are completely unregulated and the long term effects are unknown.
"Accordingly we will soon be launching a new policy, covering our own staff, that brackets e-cigarettes with tobacco products.
"We are also producing similar guidelines for local businesses and employers to consider as part of their own smoking policies."
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