Whatever happened to common sense!!

[tierk]

Just saw this and omg the world has gone mad!!!

Painter fined for smoking in his own van | UK news | guardian.co.uk

 

[Iceforge]

and that was the law that was passed to protect people from unwillingly being victims of passive smoking....

 

[Olgaline]

well, this particular case does seem abit silly doesnt it tho ?
I have my opinions on the whole smoking law thing, but wont
get into that here as we've been through that many times already in here.

 

[Downanael]

well, this particular case does seem abit silly doesnt it tho ?

This looks like biggest "wtf they are thinking" moment of year for me really,i can't even comment the stupidity of this.

 

[Uara]

Some of the legislation is soooo retarded. Its like a town in wiltshire doesnt want to let a veteran raise the union flag on the roof of a legion building due to health and safety issue. Crazy shit!

 

[Lamp]

They'll be fining you for smoking in your own home next (oh wait they can already do that)

 

[Sparx]

no they cant, and the law clearly states that you cant smoke in a company vehicle, i personally wouldnt believe the guy if he said he was the only person who uses the van. People will say anything to get out of paying fines

 

[tierk]

no they cant, and the law clearly states that you cant smoke in a company vehicle, i personally wouldnt believe the guy if he said he was the only person who uses the van. People will say anything to get out of paying fines

I have heard about passive smoking but not so passive that smoking in a van the day after someone else has smoked in it i can get an increased chance of getting lung cancer.

I mean the other passenger was lighting up as well so its not like he was going to get the lung cancer from the driver lightning up was he?

 

[Sparx]

I have heard about passive smoking but not so passive that smoking in a van the day after someone else has smoked in it i can get an increased chance of getting lung cancer.

I mean the other passenger was lighting up as well so its not like he was going to get the lung cancer from the driver lightning up was he?

Thats not the point, the law states no smoking in company vehicles. As soon as you make exceptions then the law becomes too bent and hard to police

 

[Billargh]

Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't the law make it illegal to smoke in a workplace, in this case his van? Anyway it's thirty quid, fucking hell why is this making the news?

 

[pikeh]

Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't the law make it illegal to smoke in a workplace, in this case his van? Anyway it's thirty quid, fucking hell why is this making the news?

too right.

I walked up the shit-off hill near my house in 4 minutes today, do I get onto the news?

only bloody local!

 

[Billargh]

I put on 2lb today from eating shit loads of burgers, wheres my section in Heat magazine!?

 

[Sparx]

People only become pissy about laws and what the government are putting in place when it directly effects them. Makes me laugh

 

[Golena]

I have heard about passive smoking but not so passive that smoking in a van the day after someone else has smoked in it i can get an increased chance of getting lung cancer.

It's so people who don't smoke don't have to be subject to getting in a company car that smells like an ashtray I assume. If I took a dump in the company car you had to use the next day i'd assume you'd be a bit pissed about it even tho it wasn't going to give you cancer.

I do wonder what would happen if everyone that didn't smoke went around pissing on smokers, then claimed that since it hadn't been proved that piss was directly linked to cancer all laws stopping it were retarded.

In this case it sounds a bit like a policeman going out of his way to be a dick, although I imagine what wasn't reported by the paper was the conversation that occured before the fine was actually given. There's every chance he was asked to put it out politely, acted like a cock so got given the fine.

 

[Olgaline]

it's funny how people seem unable to seperate the issue of inconvenience with that of health risks. sorry Gol it's not really aimed at you more a general thing really. But no it's not so people dont get a car that smells like an ashtray, it's so that people doing thier jobs dont get subjected to secondhand some or smoke particels.

If laws where to be implimented to account for inconvenience, it be a mess!
next thing you know, you'd be fined for farting in a company car. Just becuase something is an inconvenience, or a person doesnt like it, dosent mean it should be, or is fair to, legislate prohabition against it.

An example is me personally, I'm not a smoker, nore would I like taking over a car wich a college had previosely smoked in the day before, but I'd also not want to take over a car that a heavey farter had used or someone had eaten alot of junk food in the previose day. this doesnt mean we should legislate against it, that should be left to Company policy! Now to me, sitting in the same van as a smoker, directly inhaling second hand smoke? now thats a different thing all together! and here i can see the logic in legislating against it. so if the guy had been lighting up with a college in the van, well thats a different stoy all together.

Lastly I'll say this, I dont personally know the ramerfications of resedue smoke particals, in aspect to health risks, so wont go braining on it. But You can be sure of one thing, that legislation is just as much put in place as general Policy rather than in aspect to individual aplication.

 

[Golena]

it's funny how people seem unable to seperate the issue of inconvenience with that of health risks. sorry Gol it's not really aimed at you more a general thing really.

I guess your irk is the same as that of mine towards smokers that appear to have no concept of the fact that smoking does effect those people around them. The explanation of people traveling with a smoker makes perfect sense tho.
I'd still bet that the story (obviously told from the innocent smokers point of view) has more to it than him simply being fined, like he was a cock towards the policeman when he got pulled over. I might be wrong, but i'd say it's unlikely.

 

[Olgaline]

hehe, your most likely right.
likely senario: cop tells him it's illegal, he makes a fuss and a scene, cop gets anoyed and fines him according to the law, he goes of and calls the nearest tabloid and they turn a feather into an entire chicken roost...

well at least thats often the case isnt it ?

 

[Raven]

I guess your irk is the same as that of mine towards smokers that appear to have no concept of the fact that smoking does effect those people around them. The explanation of people traveling with a smoker makes perfect sense tho.
I'd still bet that the story (obviously told from the innocent smokers point of view) has more to it than him simply being fined, like he was a cock towards the policeman when he got pulled over. I might be wrong, but i'd say it's unlikely.

It was his van. nobody else uses it. He doesn't work in the van, he uses to get to his place of work as he said, he paints houses not vans.

Would you like to see people banned from smoking in their home in case guests come round?

Besides it wasn't a policeman, it was a council jobsworth justifying his salary.

 

[old.Tohtori]

Well if smell, towards Golena, is a factor that is "fineable" then i demand all who eat foul smelling foods at my workplace be jailed!

Damn sprout eating hippies.

 

[Dukat]

Its a clear case of the letter of the law being used to defeat the spirit of the law.

The law is there (imo) to stop people doing things that endanger others, protect the innocent and punish the guilty, but in this case it isnt really doing any of these things is it?

There should be a clause in the law that protects people from bored police officers giving out on-the-spot fines to people who arent really doing anything wrong.

One minute they claim there arent enough police about, and the next they're doing something like this? If they feel stopping joe bloggs in his van from smoking is the best use of thier time I really do have to wonder wtf is going on.

EDIT: just saw ravens post, reread the article and saw that it was a council bum and not a copper, I wasnt aware that council officials were able to hand out on the spot fines? How does that work?

Then again, it was in wales... I guess you should expect things like this to go on there

 

[Golena]

Would you like to see people banned from smoking in their home in case guests come round?

Did I say that?
I want smoking banned in places that I have to occupy, such as my work place. If I have to go on a business trip then i'd much rather not have to sit next to a smoker in a confined space for 3 hours on the M1. Pubs, well I prefer it since the no smoking rule, but since I didn't have to go there I wouldn't of complained if the rule hadn't come about. The attitude of some (I know it's probably a minority) of smokers does mean I have less sympathy for it than I might otherwise have tho. The number of people I see regularly lighting up directly in front of a no smoking sign is shocking, and it's not even like you can ask them not to, since you know you'll just get grief back.

 

[Iceforge]

I was simply tring to work out why they would of created the law.. Since Olgaline pointed out it was probably done to stop people smoking in a car with a passenger then that makes far more sense.



Did I say that?
I want smoking banned in places that I have to occupy, such as my work place. If I have to go on a business trip then i'd much rather not have to sit next to a smoker in a confined space for 3 hours on the M1. Pubs, well I prefer it since the no smoking rule, but since I didn't have to go there I wouldn't of complained if the rule hadn't come about. The attitude of some (I know it's probably a minority) of smokers does mean I have less sympathy for it than I might otherwise have tho. The number of people I see regularly lighting up directly in front of a no smoking sign is shocking, and it's not even like you can ask them not to, since you know you'll just get grief back.

Totally know what you mean!

We got this outdoor area at my workplace which is divided into a no-smoking seating area for people who want to eat outside and a corner for those who smoke with a shelter for the cold days and some improviseable seating if one wants; I myself started smoking again (bad iceforge, bad), and I eat outside, but I smoke in one end, go eat and then take a cig again at smoking area and go back inside, but sometimes I wonder why i bother as there is always 3-4 smokers seated in the no-smoking zone and puffing away.. it is litterarly a 10 second walk to be in an area in which they are allowed to smoke.. I just dont get it...

 

[Huntingtons]

It was his van. nobody else uses it. He doesn't work in the van, he uses to get to his place of work as he said, he paints houses not vans.

Would you like to see people banned from smoking in their home in case guests come round?

Besides it wasn't a policeman, it was a council jobsworth justifying his salary.

if he keeps his material in the car it is probably classified as a company vehicle, just cause he doesnt work in it doesnt mean its a private van. Now i assume he reported it as a company vehicle to get some sort of tax reduction or what you have in England. now if he reported it as private and used it to go to places it was no biggie.

 

[Iceforge]

if he keeps his material in the car it is probably classified as a company vehicle, just cause he doesnt work in it doesnt mean its a private van. Now i assume he reported it as a company vehicle to get some sort of tax reduction or what you have in England. now if he reported it as private and used it to go to places it was no biggie.

The news article mentions it is registered as a private vehicle

 

[Huntingtons]

woopti-doo, thats what you get for not reading the article!