Ahead of England, Wales and Northern Ireland introducing a smoking ban this spring and summer, National Car Rental and Guy Salmon are applying a UK-wide ban of their own across the companies' 45,000-strong fleet.
”We feel very strongly that a smoking ban should be applied to all our vehicles to help our customers, who are also employers, comply with the new legislation,” said National Car Rental vice president UK operations, Ron Santiago.
”By putting ”No Smoking” stickers in all our vehicles, we can ensure that they are not at risk from the heavy penalties for non-compliance with the new legislation.”
What may not be widely known is that as well as smoking being banned in public and work places, the law also applies to vehicles used by more than one person for work purposes, whether paid or voluntary. The ban was effective in Wales from 2 April and will come into force in Northern Ireland on 30 April and in England from 1 July. Scotland already has a smoking ban in place.
Continuing the car rental theme, Avis has introduced a new website to help drivers travelling on business abroad and using hire cars.
The site in conjunction with British Airways ” www.avisba.com - aims to educate drivers about all aspects of driving in countries as diverse as the US, Europe, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. It includes information on popular road signs, driver documentation, speed limits, drink/drive limits, traffic offence fines and regulations covering seatbelts and warning triangles.
Advice is also available in the guise of Handy Hints that inform drivers about different countries” etiquette such as what headlight flashing means in France, what to do on toll roads and how to park in cities.
”We appreciate the difficulties drivers can face when setting out in an unfamiliar country, in a make and model of car that they may never have driven before,” said Avis commercial director, Daniel McCarthy.
”By offering the guides on the Avis/BA website, we can help travellers research their own information on destinations and reduce stress while driving abroad.”