By Lars Niven

PUPILS CAUGHT smoking on school buses face having their bus passes suspended as part of a new crackdown in the west of Fife.

CCTV cameras are to be used to catch troublemakers who regularly flout the rules by lighting up en route to and from Dunfermline High.

The culprits will then be hauled before the school authorities and given a final chance to mend their ways.

If they don’t, they could find themselves stripped of their bus passes and having to get up even earlier to catch public transport, or cadge a lift from their parents.

The high school has been chosen to run the pilot project, which health chiefs hope will encourage youngsters to quit the habit.

Smoking on school buses, like other public places, has been against the law since April, but that hasn’t stopped some youngsters from continuing to puff away.

Senior officers at Fife Police decided it was time to drive the message home to pupils, who use the numerous bus services to and from the school.

Fraser Laird, the force’s safer transport liaison officer, told The Courier last night, “Smoking on school buses has been going on for many years now.

“However, it is now against the law to smoke in a public place like a school bus and we felt we had to do something to try to enforce it.

“Obviously it would have been too big a project to cover the whole of Fife, so we picked Dunfermline High.

“They were having particular problems on a couple of their buses and they agreed to help us with the project.

“It is something nobody else seems to have looked at, but people have been turfed out of pubs if they want to smoke so we can’t really have children smoking on school buses.”

PC Laird said the scheme would run for three months before a decision was made on whether it could be used elsewhere.

It is believed to be the first such project in Scotland.

Bus operators Stagecoach and Dunfermline-based Rennies are installing CCTV systems on their vehicles.

Other agencies, including NHS Fife and Fife Council’s environmental health department, are also involved.

A spokeswoman for NHS Fife said, “The aim of the project is to stamp out smoking on school buses and will use CCTV to identify young people smoking.

“That will give the evidence needed to bring the young person and their parent into the school for a multi-agency meeting to discuss their behaviour and an opportunity for them to rectify it by signing a pledge.

“The pledge will mean they agree not to smoke on school buses again.

“If they do not abide by the pledge, then the pupil may have their bus pass suspended for a period of time and possibly face a lengthy period of travel to school on alternative or public transport.”

PC Laird added the bus pass ban for those who fall foul of the law would most likely run to the end of the term.

“It’ll be interesting to see if there is any difference, between the numbers smoking at the start of the project and the numbers smoking at the end of the three months,” he said.

“There might not be a major problem, or we could be run off our feet.”

NHS Fife is also planning to make sure health advice and support for pupils who wish to quit smoking is available while the school will continue to promote healthy living as part of the curriculum.

Brian Blanchflower, Dunfermline High School’s newly-appointed rector, added, “Dunfermline High School is delighted to be involved in this exciting new initiative, which both directly and indirectly, will aid health promotion for all children.”