Households who use fireplace to keep warm in UK snow face £1,300 fine

UK households using a fireplace to keep warm on Tuesday night amid the UK snow snap face £1,300 fines. The Labour Party government confirmed that households may be required to pay a penalty of up to £300 if their chimney releases smoke in a smoke control area.

People can also be fined up to £1,000 if buying unauthorised fuel to use in an appliance that is not approved by Defra. In a smoke control area, you can only burn fuel on the list of authorised fuels, or any of the following ‘smokeless’ fuels, unless you’re using a Defra approved appliance: anthracite, semi-anthracite, gas or low volatile steam coal. Unauthorised fuels, such as wood, can only be burnt in exempt appliances such as some boilers, cookers and stoves.

Households must only use the types of fuel that the manufacturer says can be used in the appliance, the government said. HETAS explained: "The rules when it comes to smoke control areas are relatively simple. These rules have been around for many years, but there have been recent changes to how they can be enforced.

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Local Authorities also have a duty to improve air quality and should be enforcing legislation against those who burn inappropriately, as with the example in Gloucestershire. "Many parts of the UK are smoke control areas where there’s a limit on how much smoke you can emit from a chimney or you can only burn authorised fuel unless you use an ‘exempt appliance’."

Under the guidance for Local Authorities, it states: "You should not need to take enforcement action if individuals are using authorised fuel or an exempt appliance correctly. This is because the appliance should not be emitting substantial amounts of smoke."

This statement is fully dependent on the user operating the appliance correctly, so it is important to only operate the appliance in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions.