Painter given £30 fine for smoking 'at work'...in his own van

[nick mercedes]

Dave, what made you think this may not be the whole picture.? I'm fairly sure it's not, but why did you think that.

I'm not sure about whether a van, being a commercial vehicle, is a place of work or not. I think it is, thus it is illegal to smoke in one if used for business purposes.
Company cars are not classed as such if only used by one driver, pool cars are.

Let's hope he didn't have the radio on too...

"he'd received a letter from the Performing Rights Society claiming he'd need a PRS licence if anyone was in earshot of his van radios! I thought it was a bit far-fetched, but thought I'd dig a bit deeper. Seems PRS have been targeting ever smaller and smaller businesses asking them to pay up for licences in the most unlikely circumstances. Surely it begs the question, don't the broadcasters pay enough to PRS to keep them happy; surely if you put people off listening to radio by making threats you'll eventually cut off the lifeblood of the music industry? Now I'm told if you pick up a stranger in your work vehicle - car or van - legally you should pay a licence fee if you are listening to music."

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=825808

 

[verytalldave]

Thats it. Officially, this country has gone totally mad with officialdom and control.

 

[glojo]

The British attitude to this sort of law is so different to that in other EU countries.

My wife and I were in Amalfi late last year and in a couple of bars we went in, we were asked if we wanted an ashtray when we ordered a drink (neither of us smoke, so the question was superfluous). We asked the server on both occasions about this practice and were told the same thing: there's a smoking ban in force here the same as there is in Britain, but you're in Italy now and if you want to smoke, then go ahead...

Way, way back in the very early 1970's I was at a cinema in Singapore and someone dared to light a cigarette, it was quite funny as this was a friend of mine and he was desperate for a fag. He had crouched down to hide the flare from the lighter, but the plume of smoke rising through the projector beam was quite evident. The first thing that happened was an usherette shone a torch at my friend whilst her colleague had a very long bamboo pole and this was used to 'tap' my friend on the head. All this failed to get my friend to put out his cigarette, so on came the lights, off went the film and out went my colleague (and the rest of us) (I don't think the San Miguel's had anything to do with my friend's less than polite attitude )

My point here is that this was way back in the early 1970's, so are we the most strict country regarding smoking issues? Happy days.

Regards
John

 

[nick mercedes]

Thats it. Officially, this country has gone totally mad with officialdom and control.

We live in a nanny state obsessed with naming and shaming, anpr, petty rules and stealth taxes...

I would imagine after the smokers have been dealt with, lager drinkers will be next.

 

[verytalldave]

Its a very bizarre situation if you actually stop and think about it. The very last thing the government want people to do is stop drinking and smoking. With the exception of income tax, NI and car related revenue, they are the two biggest earners for their coffers. If people DID stop smoking and drinking, Mr Brown and Darling would be up queer street quicker than you could say queer street.

 

[st4]

We live in a nanny state obsessed with naming and shaming, anpr, petty rules and stealth taxes...

I would imagine after the smokers have been dealt with, lager drinkers will be next.

They banned hunting because a few inconsequential, non tax paying hippies got upset over foxes. The level of apathy was amazing by the British public, even though the majority of which were not affected directly, but it amounted to an erosion of freedom and increased state control over our day to day life. Give an inch, expect a mile taken when it comes to governments. They work for us, they are our employee's, not the other way around.

What's next, shooting and fishing, then Golf, (they wouldn't dare), tracks days, Barbecues?

However the level of news articles getting posted is annoying, and maybe if the OP added some comment in as to why he posted it, his thoughts on the article and where he stands then he wouldn't become the subject of the thread.

Maybe he just wants a discussion, but some input from himself won't go a miss.

 

[Palfrem]

If only other real Health & Safety legislation was policed as vigorously as the smoking regs.

 

[recycled]

well they have just let down all the tyres of 4x4's in one street on sunday (including a CRV) which is no more polluting than say a top end mondeo. I say this is domestic terror in the name of green activists and they even had the cheek to stick up big yellow signs on the windscreens

 

[glojo]

We live in a nanny state obsessed with naming and shaming, anpr, petty rules and stealth taxes...

I would imagine after the smokers have been dealt with, lager drinkers will be next.

We certainly do live in a Nanny State where the state tends to think we need to be told what to do, how to do it, and where to do it.

Going way off topic
Yesterday evening we watched the coastguard helicopter swoop low over our house on its way to rescue some swimmers. There were numerous red flags flying indicating it was dangerous to enter the water but these folks thought they knew best. These flags were installed because folks needed to be told when it was too dangerous to enter the water.

Sadly it was a father and his son who needed rescuing, the father did not survive. I just know there will be an outcry demanding even better signing, lifeguards to enforce the flag enforcement etc etc. Nowadays folks always tend to blame someone else for their own mistakes and that applies in all modern walks of life.

Look on any cigarette packet and it usually carries a warning that might say something like:

Smoking Kills

I am an ex smoker and hopefully I am not someone that is holier than thou regarding smoking, but this person broke a stupid law that should not be necessary.

Its a very bizarre situation if you actually stop and think about it. The very last thing the government want people to do is stop drinking and smoking. With the exception of income tax, NI and car related revenue, they are the two biggest earners for their coffers. If people DID stop smoking and drinking, Mr Brown and Darling would be up queer street quicker than you could say queer street.

Totally agree, but think how expensive our fuel would be to make up the short fall

Regards
John

 

[st4]

Totally agree, but think how expensive our fuel would be to make up the short fall

Regards
John

So how would they cope if we took the bus everywhere, didn't drink, smoke, fly. No more expense accounts

 

[Biscuit]

We live in a nanny state obsessed with naming and shaming, anpr, petty rules and stealth taxes...

I would imagine after the smokers have been dealt with, lager drinkers will be next.

you think ANPR is a bad thing?

 

[nick mercedes]

you think ANPR is a bad thing?

Yes.

 

[Biscuit]

why?

 

[barryj]

Dave, what made you think this may not be the whole picture.? I'm fairly sure it's not, but why did you think that.

I'm not sure about whether a van, being a commercial vehicle, is a place of work or not. I think it is, thus it is illegal to smoke in one if used for business purposes.
Company cars are not classed as such if only used by one driver, pool cars are.

The actual law states that you cannot smoke in a company vehicle even if it is only shared on an irregualr basis. Most companies just ban smoking in their vehicles as the law is not clear about how it classes an irregualr basis.

On the giving up smoking thing, the Government does want us to give up that is clear and apparently more people have given up since the smoking ban than ever before. I applaud the move as the Government has signed the counytry up to a healthier lifestyle and smoking is getting the social stigma that it always deserved. Sure it will cost the country to keep the people alive that have already ruined their health through smoking but when that act has been played out it will have a positive effect on the cost of the helath service.

 

[Apial]

Silly painter, should have smoked something other than tobacco and he would have got off.

 

[nick mercedes]

why?

Intrusive, innit.

 

[Biscuit]

intrusive? how? are you one of the people who are afraid that the information is going to be used for nefarious purposes?

if so do you use a credit card, a loyalty card, fill up your car with petrol etc etc

if not apologies but i was trying to move the debate on more than a word at once!

 

[nick mercedes]

intrusive? how?

Because I don't see why my government should moniter my movement.

Keeping tabs on the everyday life of ordinary citizens is a bit like the actions of the stazi...

 

[Biscuit]

Does ANPR store the information of cars that are road legal?

why does ANPR bother you more than CCTV, petrol stations, bank machines, airlines .... the list is endless. unless you want to see the end of it all it seems odd to pick on ANPR

 

[Dragon]

Does ANPR store the information of cars that are road legal?

why does ANPR bother you more than CCTV, petrol stations, bank machines, airlines .... the list is endless. unless you want to see the end of it all it seems odd to pick on ANPR

There is nothing to be feared if your road tax, MOT, insurance are in order and it good to catch stolen cars if one of your is......but then it intrusive, they can track where you have been.

Saw the CCTV program on Monday on Channel 5/BBC3 about ANPR, nothing new in the program, they caught some suspicious making U turn on approach to a police checkpoint. Surprised to see a policeman in comfy armchair monitoring the CCTV with ANPR when you approach the slow down camera zone within the city square mile.