SMOKING will be banned in public places in Wales in just 12 days but a ban is already in place in Scotland. GERRY BRAIDEN, a reporter with the Glasgow Herald, assesses the impact it has had north of the border.

ONE thing has taken everyone by surprise since Scotland's smoking ban was introduced last March - the high levels of compliance.

Official Scottish Executive guidance leaked to the press just a month before the ban came in warned how the authorities were prepared to "stake-out" smokers and even tail them to their front door, all for a £30 fine.

In the event nothing so draconian has been required.

In Glasgow, Scotland's largest city, just 14 fines were handed out in the first six months.

A far greater number have been hit with fines for littering the pavement as they nip outside for a quick puff.

Half-time at a big football match can leave Glasgow's pavements resembling massive ashtrays, and outside pubs it has been a similar story.

In neighbouring Renfrewshire, 60 fixed penalties were issued, all but two to drivers of commercial vehicles, in which smoking is banned. Edinburgh, the capital, issued just three fines in the first six months.

It would seem most smokers are happy to be left in the cold, if not for their sake then the sake of the landlord of their favourite pub.

But there are concerns for the licensed trade.

The first genuinely independent study, carried out for the International Epidemiological Association, found a 10 percent decrease in sales and a 14 percent fall in pub customers.

Trade representatives believe Scotland is now mirroring Ireland, where the ban led to a 5.3 percent drop in bar trade during the first year.

Although no exact figures currently exist, and despite major chains reporting an upturn in food sales, the pub trade claims many rural pubs are already closing or on their last legs.

But the Scottish Executive reminds us the ban was about "saving lives, not businesses".

First Minister Jack McConnell believes March 26 2006 "will be remembered as the day Scotland began to lose its 'sick man of Europe' tag".

Air quality in most bars is now comparable with average outdoor air quality, pub and nightclub workers are now exposed to 86 percent less second-hand smoke, while a Dundee University study showed an increase in the respiratory health of bar staff after just two months.

On top of this, 27,000 people called Smokeline helplines in the run-up the ban, while Imperial Tobacco claims its sales fell by five percent at the time of the ban and continue to be down by up to three percent.