Williams claimed the vehicle is only insured for private use and he wasn't working at the time. He was quoted in the national press as saying: “It's not my place of work; I decorate houses not vans. I appreciate a driver of a coach or a bus can't smoke at the wheel because that is the law of the land. Of course there are tools and things in the van, but a barrister would carry about documents in a briefcase in his own car — this is no different to my mind.”
Williams is to contest the fine, which is not the first to be issued in Wales using no-smoking legislation. Conwy Council fined a driver £50 in July 2007.