Almost all fleets are complying with signage needed for the smoking ban in vehicles, a government study has found.

And it found that drivers are following the law too.

A report for Smokefree England found almost total compliance across vehicles and the workplace, although a self-employed man recently fined for smoking in his van said he was “dumbfounded” by the penalty.

The report said: “Enforcement authorities inspected 12,624 vehicles between January and March.

“The overall compliance rate for no-smoking was 97.5%, slightly lower than that for premises.

"It varied between 91.5% in London and 98.8% in the south east.

“The overall signage compliance rate in January to March was 93.4%, slightly higher than that of premises, varying between 59.4% in London (based on a small number of inspections) and 99.0% in the south-east.”

It added that 477 fixed penalty notices were issued and there were eight court hearings for the offence of individuals smoking in a smokefree premises or vehicle.

There were only 19 court hearings for the offence of failing to prevent smoking in smoke-free premises or vehicles.

Enforcement authorities issued 1,229 written warnings to premises or vehicles failing to display correct signage over the same period, equivalent to 1.7% of the premises andvehicles inspected.

As a result, 23 fixed penalty notices were issued and there were four court hearings.

Gordon Williams, of Llanafan, told the BBC he was fined while on a shopping trip near Aberystwyth after being pulled over by council officials performing safety checks.

“I was told that because my van is my place of work I had broken the smoking laws,” he said.

“I am dumbfounded – the van is insured only for private use and to get me to and from work.”

The law states that if a vehicle is likely to carry other people in the course of work, it should be classified a place of work, with the smoking ban applying.