smoking in uk?

by John Doe 35 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  John Doe

  Sorry, don't know the original source for this. Thoughts?

  A painter and decorator who received a £30 fine for smoking in his own van has warned that British civil liberties are "going up in smoke".
  
  Gordon Williams, 58, of Llanafan, near Aberystwyth, west Wales, was on the way to buy tea bags for his wife when he was slapped with a fixed penalty fine.
  
  A passenger in his van, who had also just lit up, received a £30 on-the-spot fixed penalty notice under the new anti-smoking laws as well.
  
  But the self-employed painter and decorator hit out claiming the fine was unjustified and unfair because his van is a private vehicle.
  
  He has lodged an appeal with Ceredigion County Council and claims Britain is sleepwalking into a "Big Brother-style" society.
  
  The blue Suzuki van belonging to Mr Williams was undergoing a routine check by police in Llanbadarn Fawr, outside Aberystwyth, earlier this month.
  
  The married grandfather had just lit up when a Ceredigion County Council official approached him and dished out the on-the-spot fine.
  
  He said: "I was just having a cigarette and causing no bother to anyone else. But this is like Big Brother is watching you."
  
  A spokesman for the council said: "It would be inappropriate for Ceredigion County Council to comment on individual cases.
  
  "The legislation allows for a right of appeal and the procedures in relation to this are set out in the notices."
• 

  AlphaOmega

  If my understanding of the stupid rules are correct then the problem is that his van is being classed as a work vehicle, and as such smoking is only permitted inside it if he is the sole driver.

  Do the regulations include all work vehicles?

  Where a vehicle is used for work by more than one person, regardless of whether they are in the vehicle at the same time, it will be required to be smokefree at all times. This protects all who use the vehicle from harmful secondhand smoke, regardless of when they use the vehicle.
  
  Smoking will be permitted in vehicles that are for the sole use of the driver and are not used as a workplace by anyone else, either as a driver or passenger.

  The smokefree law does not apply to vehicles that are used primarily for private purposes by more than one person.

  Any vehicle that is used by members of the public (for example, taxis and mini cabs) will need to always be smokefree, even when they are being used for private purposes.

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  I share a company vehicle with one other person. We are both smokers and want to smoke in that vehicle. Why shouldn't we?

  The smokefree law is in place to protect both smokers and non-smokers from exposure to secondhand smoke. As the vehicle is used for work, it is required to be smokefree.
  

  Back to top

  Can I smoke in my privately owned vehicle?

  Yes. The smokefree law does not require vehicles used primarily for private purposes to be smokefree

  http://www.smokefreeengland.co.uk/faq/vehicles.html

  The rules here are very over the top. We have to have signs on every entrance and exit to a building as well as in company vehicles. Why? Smoking at work is now illegal and that should be that. Murder is also illegal but we don't have to have signs up on every entrance telling people not to murder
• 

  searcher

  Its all about the money, notice the fines are instant.
• 

  John Doe

  People seem to put up with a lot of insane nonsense before they revolt. It's rather like the frog story we've all heard--put a frog in boiling watter and he'll jump out. Put him in tepid water and slowly heat it up and he'll stay there until he's boiled to death.
• 

  Fe2O3Girl

  It is of course a shocking infringment of civil liberties to be protected from second hand smoke in the workplace. As Mr Williams was wearing work clothes and his passenger, also a painter and decorator but a friend not a workmate was with him, it certainly looked like he was in a work vehicle with a colleague. If he can show that his vehicle is not used for work (not insured for business and not tax deductible) he can appeal to have the fine overturned.
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  John Doe

  That's a crock of bull fe2. I wouldn't live in the UK for anything these days, and I've never smoked.
• 

  Clam

  You're right to shun this septic isle JD.

  Petty bureaucracy in pursuit of soft targets is a national sport here. Meanwhile real criminality grows.

  Clam
• 

  tijkmo

  at the football stadium where i work no pass-outs are allowed..this is not too big a demand to make to the majority of folk who only come for the 2 hours the game is played.

  but where i work in corparate hospitality they come 3 hours before the game and stay for a couple of hours after. so it is hypocrisy for the government to make money off tobacco and to tacitly go along with the addiction to nicotine and then to stop smokers from having anywhere to smoke for 7 / 8 hours. this is not a civil liberties violation. they are free to leave whenever they wish if they want to smoke. they just wont be allowed back in - despite paying hundreds of dollars for their day ticket or thousands for a season.

  so yes that is unfair..

  but it is not a crock of bull to protect non smokers from second hand smoke.

  tijkmo of the i hate smokers unless they are female..and naked.......and hot class
• 

  llbh

  I agree this is totally ludicrous JD I saw this and thought t is pointless, it makes the law look an ass rather than an asset.

  David
• 

  John Doe

  After reading 1984, this stuff is a bit chilling.