Anti-smoking group Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) says serious thought should be given to a ban on smoking in cars.

In a report which says smoking costs the NHS 2.7 billion pounds a year, the lobby group argues that millions of children and young people are exposed to second-hand smoke in vehicles every day.

Similar bans are in place elsewhere in the world and a poll shows that the British public also supports such action.

Pro-smoking groups say such suggestions are just an attempt to stigmatise smokers and bully them into quitting. Lobby group Forest says such moves are an attack on the freedoms of adult smokers.

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This week marks the first anniversary of England’s ban on smoking in indoor public places. Hardly a puff has been blown in the nation’s pubs and restaurants since July 1 2007.

The health benefits seem clear –  a study by Cancer Research UK suggests the ban has contributed to a 5.5 percent fall in smoking rates in the first nine months after the law changed. That’s about 400,000 people.

Non smokers have had the pubs to themselves as the die-hards crush up in windswept, fag-strewn areas outside, savouring the superiority of the forsaken. They may be making all sorts of new friends in the long Summer evenings but Winter is on the way…

Publicans have seen their takings drop in general but many are fighting back by beefing up their food offerings as more and more people are tempted back into licensed premises to eat now the fug has gone.

What’s your take on the smoking ban one year on?