Going up in smoke

I do not smoke, I have never smoked, I hate the smell of cigarette, cigar and pipe smoke and hate even more the smell of stale smoke on my clothes and skin the day after an evening out in a bar or club. I avoid smokey restaurants and bars and have changed tables to avoid people smoking next to me. So I obviously support the ban on smoking in all public places that comes into force in England on 1 July; actually no I don't. This is just another way of the state controlling the public. Every "workplace" must display A5 sized "No smoking" signage at every entrance unless it is an entrance from another smoke free workplace in which case a no smoking symbol only needs be displayed. If a vehicle is a Company vehicle and carries more than just the driver then no smoking signs must be displayed in each "compartment" of that vehicle. So if you drive a company car and occasionally carry a passenger from your company then your car is a "workplace" and smoking in that car breaks the law.

It appears that I should have gone into business making non smoking signs as they are going to have to be displayed almost everywhere. Surely if the whole country is to be no smoking it would be cheaper to just put signs up where smoking is allowed, maybe a picture of a half smoked, fuming fag could be the sign! That would be too obvious for this government who need to nanny us as much as possible and also to raise revenue. I was not surprised to see the list of penalties for contravening this legislation. The maximum penalties are as follows:
1) 'No smoking' sign offences (summary conviction and a fine of up to £1,000 or a fixed penalty notice of £200)
2) Offence of smoking in a smoke-free place (summary conviction and a fine of up to £200 or a fixed penalty notice of £50)
3) Offence of failing to prevent smoking in a smoke-free place (summary conviction and a fine of up to £2,500)

So the heaviest fines do not fall upon people smoking where they shouldn't but on companies who fail to put signs up at every entrance or fail to prevent people from smoking on their premises. Also you will notice that we are seeing the introduction of yet another "fixed penalty notice" by this government. We are slowly being constricted by this government via "fixed penalty notices" and I will blog about this more in the future.

So this is a revenue raising exercise disguised as a policy for public health.

Meanwhile at least one company has looked to find a market in selling smoking shelters that meet the new "substantially enclosed" restrictions.

Regardless of the above why should the government dictate whether bar owners and restaurateurs allow smoking in their establishments. If the place is smoky then I (and other customers) won't go there and nobody is being forced to work there so don't tell me if it a Health and Safety at work issue.


The law of unintended consequences may also come into play with this ban, The BBC have quite a good article on this.