AN EX-SMOKER waiting for a double-lung transplant has welcomed the news that smoking in cars with children will be banned in the new year.

Rachel McFarlane, the manager of outsourced accounts at Morris Owen, in Old Town, said the proposals to ban smoking in cars carrying people under 18 would reduce the risks of passive smoking.

The 54-year-old, who lives near Cirencester, said: “Anything that means people cut down on smoking and that encourages them to quit has to be a good thing.

“And it will cut down on passive smoking, which can be as harmful as smoking itself.

“Nicotine is such an addictive substance as well that banning smoking around children will make them less likely to take it up themselves. Both my parents smoked and at the end I was smoking around 50 cigarettes a day.”

Rachel, who was diagnosed with emphysema and later with pulmonary fibrosis, and given three years to live, quit smoking in 2003 but is still living with the consequences.

“I used to chain smoke in my car on the way to and from work.

“Even without the children in the car it should be banned on the grounds that, like a mobile phone, it’s distracting.

“How is getting a cigarette out of a box and lighting up while you’re driving any better?”

The new proposals put forward by the government will see a fine of £50 for drivers who smoke or fail to prevent anyone smoking with children in the car.

MPs will vote on the plan before the general election next May and, if passed, the change could be enforced from October 1.

Fiona Andrews, director of Smokefree South West, said: “The shift to Smokefree public places has been a resounding success story, popular with virtually all non-smokers and the vast majority of smokers. I predict the same will quickly be true for this move to protect our children from passive smoke exposure when in the family car. This measure already has strong public and political support.

“Children and passengers travelling in cars can still be exposed to shockingly high doses of toxins from slip stream and exhaled tobacco smoke which lingers within the vehicle.

“In the confined space of a car there is no escape and evidence shows that even if the driver holds their cigarette near an open window, the movement of air forces much of the invisible carcinogens back into the car towards the back seat, from where they circulate.”