A survey has found that some of Scotland's smoke ban enforcers are seriously under-employed with some councils' officers NEVER having issued a ticket.
An investigation by Scotland on Sunday found seven councils, between them employing at least 11 full-time enforcers, have failed to issue a single penalty ticket or warning since they began work in March.
It is estimated that the salary bill for these officers is around £220,000.
The publicans are the ones who have made it work. Nobody else has made it work Paul Waterson, chief executive of the Scottish Licensed Trade Association.
Councils say there is more to the job than handing out fines, however Stewart Maxwell, the MSP who brought the original bill before the Scottish parliament said: "I always thought it would be self-policing. From the start I didn't think that it would be necessary to employ so many enforcement officers.
"A lot of them were certainly doing a lot of work when the ban was brought in, including distributing posters, but I don't know whether this is still the case."
Paul Waterson, chief executive of the Scottish Licensed Trade Association, said the money could be better spent compensating badly hit rural pubs.
He told the Scotsman: "We always said pubs would comply. We respect the law, although we don't agree with it. The publicans are the ones who have made it work. Nobody else has made it work.
"I don't see any need for the enforcement officers. The Executive could use the money to compensate the small community pubs that are really struggling because of the ban."