Cabbies are given warning over smoking
Mark Selley, secretary of the Preston Hackney Carriage Association, claimed the problem was widespread
Taxi drivers have been warned they will be hit in the pocket if they continue to smoke in their cabs.
£50 fines are being dished out to drivers caught flouting the smoking ban in Preston.
Council enforcement officers have already received payments for three fines and a fourth is in the process of being issued.
Andy Howard, environmental health manager, said: "We still get a hardcore who maintain that if they want a fag they will have one anywhere. I do not know what makes people want to smoke in their cabs, there is plenty of opportunity to smoke when they park up outside."
Taxi drivers were previously banned from smoking in their vehicles under the terms of their licensing policy, which was punishable through penalty points.
But in April it was changed to a fixed penalty notice and letters were sent to all drivers on the council's register to inform them of the change.
Mr Howard said the fines were imposed to protect passengers from the dangers of second-hand smoke.
He said: "The health factor of second-hand smoke in vehicles is why we continue enforcement with fixed penalty notices and prosecutions where necessary – to protect customers on public transport and certain taxis.
"That is the main reason we do it.
"It is because there is a need when there are taxi drivers who are still willing to flout the law."
Mark Selley, secretary of the Preston Hackney Carriage Association, claimed the problem was widespread.
He said: "I could spend any day at work and see half a dozen drivers smoking.
"Some drivers are very cavalier about it.
"I do speak to passengers who find it uncomfortable to get in where they can smell tobacco."
A year ago, the Lancashire Evening Post reported how a Lancashire taxi driver was cleared of smoking in his vehicle at South Ribble Magistrates Court.
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