I was amused to read in Keith Waterhouse's column in the Daily Mail that a ban on public smoking in Brighton and Hove would "drive punters into the sea heading for the French coast".

If the "punters" will treat this ban with the same contempt as all other rules and regulations which are ignored, I predict they will continue smoking as usual.

The promenades have clear signs reading "no cycling" but cyclists ignore them.

There are signs forbidding fires to be started on the beach but barbecues are commonplace (and the heated pebbles are left for children to burn their feet on).

Likewise, the signs forbidding dogs on the beach are regularly ignored.

And where are the officers to enforce these regulations? There are none to be seen.

So it is more than probable that a smoking ban will be treated with equal disdain.

-David Bennis, Hove