A painter and decorator and his wife have both received a £30 fines for smoking in their own van.

Gordon Williams, of Llanafan, near Aberystwyth, west Wales, and his wife Sue were on the way to buy tea bags when they were slapped with the fixed penalty fines under anti-smoking laws.

The self-employed painter and decorator hit out claiming the fines were unjustified and unfair because his van is a private vehicle and warned that British civil liberties are "going up in smoke".

He has lodged an appeal with Ceredigion County Council and claims Britain is sleepwalking into a Big Brother-style society.

The blue Suzuki van belonging to Mr Williams had been undergoing a routine check by police in Llanbadarn Fawr, outside Aberystwyth, earlier this month.

The married grandfather had just lit up when a council official approached him and dished out the on-the-spot fine. Mr Williams said it was justified to him by the accusation that his van was classed as a workplace.

He claims that he had, in fact, been working in the nearby village of Talybont that day and only ever used his van as transport.

"I was actually driving to Llanbadarn Fawr to get some tea bags from the garage, so how was I going to my place of work?" he said.

"I appreciate that a driver of a coach or a bus can't smoke at the wheel because, obviously, that is the law of the land.

"But this is insured as a private vehicle and I only use it to drive to wherever I will be working on any given day.

"Of course, there are tools and things in the van but a barrister would carry about documents in a briefcase in his own car, this is no different to my mind."

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