ENFORCING a ban on people smoking in cars with passengers under 18 will not be the ‘number one priority’ for police officers in Lancashire.

Yesterday new regulations came into force giving police powers to dish out £50 on-the-spot fines for anyone caught lighting up in a vehicle with children present.

But Rachel Baines, chairman of the Lancashire Police Federation, admitted: “This is not going to be top of the to-do list.

“If officers come across someone breaking this law they will enforce it, but it’s not going to be number one priority.

“We have lost over 600 police officers in Lancashire so far and another 600 are predicted to be lost over the next few years.

“We can’t do everything we did before.

“We can’t be all things to all people.

“We have got to focus on the priorities of the public and that’s going to be the case going forward.

“We haven’t got the resources to enforce everything.”

The new regulations were broadly welcomed by shoppers in Blackburn town centre yesterday but questions were raised about how it can be enforced by already stretched police officers.

Gail Clough, 50, from Redlam, was with her one-year-old granddaughter Harper.

She said: “My daughter smokes but I think it’s great this law has been introduced.

“I’m always saying you should never smoke in front of children.

“I completely agree with it, in such a small, confined space as a car it is not nice for the children.”

Ibrahim Rashid, 35, from Johnson Street, Blackburn, said: “I’ve got four boys and make sure I never smoke in front of them, it’s not good for them, so I think this law makes sense.”

Janet Walsh, 53, and her daughter Nicola, 26, from Blackburn, were pleased to see the law introduced.

Janet said: “I’m really pleased, it’s wrong to smoke in a car when children are in there.”

Nicola agreed, adding: “People shouldn’t smoke in front of their children, it should be banned.”

Not all residents agreed the new law was a positive though.

Vladimir Jan-Czar, 63, who is currently living in Blackburn, said: “I think it’s going too far, it’s becoming like a Nazi state with all these laws.

“If somebody is smoking in their own private vehicle then I don’t see how you can stop it.”

Retired Australian police officer David Neville, 72, who now lives in Pleckgate, questioned how easy it would be to enforce.

He said: “I think it’s fantastic but I do wonder how it’s going to be enforced.

“I’m not a smoker and I think it’s wrong to do it around children.

“But it’s difficult for a police officer to stop, you have to see the person smoking first of all, and even then when you approach the car or put the sirens on they could just flick it away.

“I think children themselves could help enforce it, if they know what their parents or aunties and uncles are doing is wrong they aren’t usually shy in pointing it out.”