General Chat

They are looking into banning smoking outside offices etc., are they going to make smoking illegal next? Are they taking this a step too far?

Banning smoking will never work, besides my hubby would be hell to live with :) Heather x

I think it's fair to ban smoking in bus stops which is one of the proposals but I can't see the problem with smoking outside offices

I agree with banning smoking in eating places etc, but i heard the other day, that even if you get some one in your home to repair eg your boiler (British Gas ect), you will not be able to light up whilst they are there! That really is taking it too far. (It was a British Gas engineer advised me the Government are trying to bring this in). Donna

Banning it in Scoland in all public places, I and many other's including some smokers, think it has been a good move. I just wish smokers would not block the doorway, and move along a bit. you risk getting your clothes burt while squeezing past them, and they look at you as if you have no right to say excuse me. Marion

Strump - I've heard that and to a degree I can understand that!! Health care assistants are the ones more at risk apparently as they are in the homes on a regular basis. Banning smoking in bus stops..... also can understand it!! But what happens if its just a post not a shelter? But smoking outside offices...... surely the company can find an area where it is acceptable??? The government does not want smoking to be banned completely as they would lose millions in revenue, so what is the answer? x

Dont exhale.... ..Ill go get my coat :o))))))))))) Elaine x

my local sure start is a no smoking building for obvious reasons. they are know looking at banning it within the grounds. again that is acceptable as children play in the gardens. but they also intend to ban people from smoking in the public car park in the front of the building and on the public path leading up to the building. when i asked where i was to go for a smoke i was told to stand next to the busy main road off the grounds. is this a safe place for me and many others to stand, esp as most of us have overactive 4 year olds with us. there will be an accident and the parents who smoke wil be blamed.

Where I work they've just banned people from smoking too near the outside of the building on the grounds that the smoke rises up and gets into the offices through the open windows. And workers whose jobs involve going into people's homes can refuse to carry out the work if the owner/tenant refuses to refrain from smoking while the job's being done.

the mod have just revised their smoking policy and it states that there will be no smoking on mod property. which sounds fair enough, until you realise that that means the whole camp. or indeed the whole ship!! seriously. that means the navy boys and girls have to go weeks without. or learn to tread water one handed! lol! x

Diana I hadnt thought of that, i retract all i said now. No idea what the answer is, bit worried where the lost revenue will be lumped on though!

Well said Lynda. M.

Lynda, very well said. Heather x

umm I agree with Lynda, every word of the last post

Well, as you know, Scotland was the guinea pig for this - smoking in public places was banned on March 26th. It has worked quite well and it would appear the enforcement officers hired to police the ban have had little to do! Of course, that means that there has not been the expected income from fines, so where will the money come from for their wages? Yep, you guessed it - ye olde council tax payer! The nub seems to be the definition of a public place. It could be argued that every street is a public place, as is every park! We have signs up (as required by law!) to advise our no smoking policy, and this policy has to extend to the entrances of the building - because members of the public have to enter this way (how else are they supposed to get in, I wonder). Smoking is also banned in toilets but I draw the line in following lorry drivers into the gents to see if they're intending to smoke! If your place of work is a vehicle then you can not smoke there at all - even if every other person in that vehicle is a smoker. I'm not a smoker - never have been, so I'm not fussed about the ban. However, if I have a bad cold I get a chest infection and the smell of smoke doesn't help at all. It's a pleasure to return home after a night out without smelling like an ashtray - even the smokers are saying this! Good luck when this happens down south, might not be so bad in practice as it sounds.

in my opinion they cant ban it soon enough. and i smoke!! i only smoke when in the pub though. dont smoke at work and certainly not around the baby. the local barmaid has complained about the smoking because it is a little village pub with no ventilation. i cant imagine how she must feel at the end of a smoky shift. i think i need them to ban it to stop me. call it weak willed, call it stupid and i agree completely but some of us are slave to the weed and need that shove. my dad almost died and now can only walk a few hundred yards before resting. 2 of my uncles died from smoking. and yet i still do it, why? because it is an addiction, more addictive than heroin, fact. so, yes please ban it.

Just read Lynda's reply re non smokers leaving early etc. That I agree with wholeheartedly. We used to have a sign up saying that smoke breaks would damage your health if I caught them having a quick smoke outwith their normal break times. Just 5 mins per hour is 40 mins per 8 hour shift - not on!! She who will be obeyed!

I agree smoking is a disgusting habit. My Dad died 3 years ago aged just 66 of a blood clot after a long operation to remove his cancerous bladder, which was caused my smoking a pipe for most of his adult life. Because he smoked he hasn't seen his 4 grandchildren grow up, he didn't meet my daughter who was born 7 months after he died. You can now understand why I don't like smoking, in addition to this I'm asthmatic. Our local shopping centre has yet to ban smoking. There's two cafes in there and there's smoke clouds surrounding both. I literally have to hold my breath as I walk past. I hate walking behind someone down the street smoking as me and the children breath in all their smoke. I'm so looking forward to next summers ban on smoking in eating places. Too often we're sitting in 'no smoking areas' when smoke drifts in. Too often you have to walk through a smoky bar area to get to toilets especially those with nappy changing facilities. I don't polute the area around me and wish that smokers have the curtesy to do the same.

Compromises and exemtions are ridiculous and help nobody. Smoking is either safe and legal or unsafe and should be illegal. If it is safe then there should be no restrictions. If it is unsafe then the addiction should be treated as a disease with medical programmes to help people give up and supplies only available on prescription. Prescribing would be cheap as most of the cost of cigarettes is tax anyway.

A lot of people on here have a good point about breathing in second hand smoke. I pay a lot for my cigarettes and don't see why people stood around me should have the benefit;)