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News Article Comments : Pub managers fined for flouting smoke ban
A licensee couple have been fined for flouting the smoking ban after police checked CCTV footage at the pub.
Marjorie Hogg of the Netherfield Tavern in Milton Keynes was fined £800 for failing to stop a customer smoking while husband Peter was fined £100 for smoking in the pub. The pair were ordered to pay £900 costs between them.
Warnings had been issued to the licensees in October and November last year after enforcement officers found customers smoking in the function room.
Police reported on 11 March that smoking was continuing at the pub and CCTV footage taken from the bar area proved their case.
"This is the first prosecution of this type that we have had to bring in Milton Keynes, and we hope it sends a clear message to all employers," council community protection manager Phil Winsor told Milton Keynes News.
"The brewery made it very clear that it is up to each individual bar manager to ensure no breach of the legislation, and on this occasion it was blatantly ignored."
| Author Name | Opinion | Reply |
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Alastair Elliott 12/08/2008 08:26:16  |
RE: Pub managers fined for flouting smoke ban I dread to think what the total cost of the smoking ban and enforcing it has now reached. What a complete waste of taxpayers money with so much worthwhile causes neglected out there, police should be catching real criminals, not wasting their time catching a couple of people having a crafty fag indoors !! This post replies to this thread |
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Harry Barnett 12/08/2008 12:00:36 |
RE: Pub managers fined for flouting smoke ban So now we have the police joining the melee as well. I wonder how many burglaries were taking place while they were spending valuable time looking for dogends? Has anyone seen policemen standing outside police staions smoking? Perhaps there are no smoking policemen 9gone the same way as the laughing ones no doubt!!) or do the police have the same facilities as the politicians? Smokerooms.If only licencees would stick together on this ban instead of trying to be restaurants (that alsosuffer from the ban ) then this ban would have to stop.as in Europe This post replies to this thread |
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| Michael J. McFadden 12/08/2008 13:31:30 |
RE: Pub managers fined for flouting smoke ban I am curious. The article states that "Marjorie Hogg of the Netherfield Tavern in Milton Keynes was fined £800 for failing to stop a customer smoking" Just what were her responsibilities in order to "stop a customer smoking" if they refuse to stop? Is she supposed to physically grab men and throw them out of the pub? Hit them with club? Call the police? Obviously simply not serving them further would not meet the requirement of stopping them from smoking, and to avoid a loss of 800 pounds I imagine some might be willing to risk injuries sustained in assaulting others. Is that what's expected in order to satisfy the spy cameras? If not, then exactly what *IS* expected? :? Michael J. McFadden Author of "Dissecting Antismokers' Brains" This post replies to this thread |
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| d smithers 12/08/2008 17:38:36 |
RE: Pub managers fined for flouting smoke ban In the public interest, this case should have been thrown out, these kind of cases have already been tried in Italy, where the responsibility was decided to be on the customer to not smoke, this sets a precedent for us, under European law. therefore, these managers should not have been prosecuted. Unfortunately, the police love this type of "crime". hard working targets, (particularly licensee's who are forced to plead guilty, in order to appease the licensing police). no doubt these people were also told to plead guilty, for a "leaner" sentence. ie; crime reported, prosecution, result; guilty = success for the police crime figures. If these people had been dealing drugs in a school playground, they would never even have been taken to court, because they would know exactly how to make the case "non-profitable" for the authorities. I hope the idiot from the council is pleased that together with the police, they have taken cctv footage installed to protect licensees, to prosecute them instead! If, on the other hand, one of the managers had been assaulted, I am sure the police would not want to bother going after the assailant, they would probably take 3 days to turn up! (based on all our experiences) you just couldn't make this stuff up! let's face it, tackling smokers, is much easier than tackling crime! re; "council community protection manager Phil Winsor" where did this guy get his title from? i suppose it gets his wages boosted an extra £40k pa.? I think he is probably a janitor, he should have stuck to cleaning bogs! This post replies to this thread |
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| Swansea Terry 12/08/2008 18:48:27 |
RE: Pub managers fined for flouting smoke ban THE GOVERNMENT,HAVE DELIBERATELY,BROUGHT ABOUT,A "THEM AND US CULTUTE" WITH THIS DISCRIMINATING SMOKING BAN,.SOCIETY IS CONTINUING TO BREAK DOWN..wE LANDLORDS MUST STAND TPGETHER,,,AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS NAZI-STYLE LAW..IE:LET EVERY SUNDAY,BE PUB SMOKING DAY.,,,THOUGHOUT THE COUNTRY.....WE MUST LET THE GOVERNMENT KNOW ,THAT THIS SOUL DESTROYING EVIL LAW,,IS NOT ACCEPTABLE,IN THIS SO CALLED DEMOCRATIC COUNTRY...WE MUST STAND UP TO THIS FASCIST GOVERNMENT,,WE MUST STAND TOGETHER,,BEFORE IT`S TOO LATE!!!!!.. This post replies to this thread |
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| Harry Barnett 15/08/2008 11:44:34 |
RE: Pub managers fined for flouting smoke ban Well spoken Terry but I fear it will fall on deaf ears. It seems the heart has been knocked out of this country.We have fought this ban since day one and have tried to get support from the trade without much success I'm afraid. If these type of restrictions were put on supermarkets for instance, we would see some battles. But the government would pick on a weak trade. And they have succeeded in this country. Thankfully other countries are fighting the battle. This post replies to Swansea Terry > RE: Pub managers fined for flouting smoke ban |
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| EDWARD CANT 15/08/2008 12:12:51 |
Pub managers fined for flouting smoke ban JUST A THOUGHT, IF WE LANDLORDS ARE NOW GETTING PENALISED FOR OTHER PEOPLE BREAKING THE LAW, WHICH SEEMS THAT THE ONUS HAS BEEN PUT ON US UNFAIRLY, WE DONT GET PAID TO DO THIS JOB, THEN SHOULD`NT THE POLICE BE ACCOUNTABLE IF SOME ONE BREAKS THE LAW AS THEY ARE GETTING PAID TO UPHOLD THE LAW, WHAT ABOUT BT, I HAVE SEEN PEOPLE SMOKING IN TELEPHONE KIOSKS, TAXI DRIVERS SMOKING IN CABS, IF THE TAXI DRIVER IS NOT THE OWNER, WILL THE OWNER GET FINED FOR HIS EMPLOYEE SMOKING IN THE CAB. WHERE IS THIS GOING TO END, This post replies to this thread |
