Responsibility for enforcing the ban lies with local authorities, and Dundee City Council has appointed two officers to do this.

The licensed trade will also be asked to police customers — but some fear problems as the cocktail of alcohol and no smoke creates ire.

One Scottish chief constable has predicted things could become heated.

In Tayside, police are to be given advice on dealing with potential confrontations and providing the public with information about the new law.

“The enforcement of the ban lies with the local authority,” a police spokesman said.

“As usual, we will deal with any public order situations which might arise and which might involve the environmental health officers enforcing the ban.

“There will be guidance given to officers to make them aware of the procedures in relation to this.”

The city council has formally authorised enforcement officers to enter and search premises and to issue fixed-penalty notices under the Smoking, Health and Social Care (Scotland) Act 2005.

Individual smokers flouting the ban face £50 fines and operators of premises where breaches occur can be fined £200.

The penalties will be reduced if payment is made within 14 days, but where serious or repeated breaches occur, offenders could be reported to the fiscal with the possibility of being fined up to £2500.

A senior official said this week that the success of the new law will rely initially on intensive monitoring and enforcement activity.

It is anticipated the legislation will become at least partly self-policing, and that monitoring and enforcement may be scaled down accordingly.

But there is concern among those working in pubs and clubs who will find themselves face-to-face with disgruntled smokers.

The president of Dundee Licensed Trade Association, Gordon Bruce, said, “There is the possibility of violence, there’s no point in saying otherwise.

“A lot of it is down to information, but I don’t think that they have thought through how they are going to enforce this legislation.”

The Royal Environmental Health Institute said experience in Ireland, where a ban is already in place, suggested only a small amount of premises had encountered compliance problems.