First Fines Dished Out on Spain’s Costa del Sol as Smokers Don’t Keep Their Distance

THE first fines for smokers who don’t socially distance have been handed out on the Costa del Sol after Spain recently adopted this security measure nationwide. Now every region must slowly enforce the new rule which states that smoking is prohibited unless a two-metre distance between individuals can be kept.

The reasoning behind this new strict rule is because experts have deduced that exhaling smoke can transport droplets of the coronavirus to a distance of around a metre. Now the police have begun to enforce this new security measure which has caused controversy amongst the smoking community.

The new rule came into fruition on Monday and on that same day, the authorities sanctioned their first individual for smoking a cigarette on the public pathway. On Tuesday and Wednesday, there have been similar offences registered.

According to local news sources, on Monday a young man was smoking next to another, who was located less than two metres away, he was also wearing the wrong type of mask on Calle Marques de Larios. According to the new regulations, people must be separated even if they are all from the same table, or even if more than one person is smoking. The penalty for breaching this can range from €100 to €3,000.