Anti-smoking madness?

Jul 29 2008 by Derek Torres Print This Article

Let's ponder for a moment about what exactly constitutes a workplace, shall we? Before you start to wax poetically for too long, it seems that perhaps the Welsh authorities have come up with a rather far reaching answer.

To put it another way, did you hear the one about the Welsh painter fined for smoking in his office – his van? It's all true, I'm afraid.

According to the story, a painter was pulled over for a random check and was levied a £30 pound fine for in his own van. The twisetd logic here is that he was smoking in his place of work. Huh?

The painter was just as gobsmacked as you probably are. If the police were looking to apply logic, then they'd recognize that a) a painter doesn't perform his or her job in the van, and b) the van isn't a registered place of doing business, so this just doesn't add up.

To me, this is a fine example of turning a reasonable law (no smoking in workplaces) into a farce. With many much more legitimate offenses occurring each day, it's hard to take a case like this seriously.

Then again, perhaps it's time to go back and check out the wording of the law and see how the workplace is defined. Otherwise, people who work from home might have good reason to worry!

Older Comments

Madness of the witch hunt against a smoker. A new bylaw in Calgary Alberta. If your dis-guard a cigarette on the street you will be a $1000 fine. I think maybe next will be a death sentence for such an act from a smoker. Who knows where they will stop?

Ted Matthews Albera Canada