A lorry driver was fined £260 yesterday for smoking in his cab.
Leonard King is one of the first to fall foul of regulations that stop workers lighting up in business vehicles.
His lorry, which carried a no smoking sign, was parked when a council dog warden spotted him puffing away.
The official decided to take down the number plate when Mr King flicked his finished cigarette out of the window and drove off.
The vehicle was traced to Rhyl, North Wales, where anti-smoking legislation was introduced in April, three months ahead of England.
Work vehicles used by more than one person must be 'smoke-free at all times', according to the Department of Health. Only work vehicles used by a single driver are exempt.
Mr King, a father of two, was issued with fixed penalties for smoking illegally in his cab and for littering.
Yesterday, the 55-year-old pleaded guilty by letter to Llandudno magistrates.
The court fined him £75 and imposed additional charges of £30 for investigative costs, £65 for legal costs and a £15 victim surcharge.
**A 15 quid victim surcharge, now quite who the victim is in this I do not know, well aside from Mr King's wallet getting a fiscal arse raping by the health fascists. Oh and quite how it costs another thirty quid to investigate is another point of contention, he was grassed up by some quisling for the council, a fucking dog warden of all people- define that as another lackey on the public payroll and using his petty powers to bring misery to us all.
The £75 litter penalty, which he had already paid, took the final bill to £260.
A spokesman for Coopers Carriers, Mr King's employer, said he was unavailable to comment yesterday because he was on delivery duties.
But his wife Janet, at their home in Rhyl, said: 'I'm disgusted by this fine. My husband smokes between ten and 20 a day.
'He's been rolling his own recently, so it doesn't make much litter.'
A spokesman for the council in Conwy - the town where the offence took place - said its three dog wardens were spearheading enforcement of smoking laws and had issued four fixed-penalty notices.
**Maybe they do not have enough dogs to catch, of course the council could consider sacking a few of these cunts and reducing council tax bills but that would never do.
He said police community support officers would soon also be given the task.
**Ah, the same community support officers who sit about quoting health & safety whilst watchig children die. Utter pen pushing cunts the lot of them, jokingly refered to by one and all as Blunkett's bobbies(after former Home Sec and serial shagger David Blunkett, oh and rent a quote in UK tabloid The Sun where he talks at length about how he would improve the UK despite being a crap Home Sec and doing sweet FA whilst in charge.)
The council has threatened to name and shame offenders to 'serve as a warning to others-Neil Rafferty, of Forest, a smokers' lobbying group, said: 'The ban on drivers smoking is the most ludicrous aspect of the law and this case shows how ridiculous it is.
'It is slightly unnerving that dog wardens are now enforcing the ban.
**The ultimate catch for dog wardens in Rhyl, two crimes in one. 'There a slide into control by the state in this country.'
More than 200 smoking enforcement notices were served across England in July.
Drivers were warned last week that they could be prosecuted for smoking in their own cars if a police officer believed it had distracted them from the road.
Undercover police officers on long stakeouts are barred from lighting up in their vehicles.
**Nanny state is getting ever more power, shame on the piss poor state of this once fine nation. The man was in his cab, on his own and the state decides after being informed by a gutless small cock'd quisling that he can not smoke because rules are rules.
Lets face it, you give menial workers - and that is what dog catching is, menial work at its most basic - some power over their social betters, like the poor bastards who pay their wages and you have an instant squad of mini Quislings, ready to follow orders and snitch on anyone for a pat on the head.
The UK a free nation, not any more.
**Lastly an old advert for tabs, just to annoy the petty pen pushers.
Tags: Leonard King, Fascism, Cool Britannia, New Labour, Quislings
2 people have spoken:
I am not a smoker myself and approve of the smoking bans in pubs etc but really Councils do need to get real when enforcing the law if they are going to carry the people with them.
What annoys me generally about this sort of over zealous prosection is we have streets of violent Yobs wreaking havock, throwing cans about and smoking in the streets underage YET we don't see the local Dog Warden going after them? Instead they go after someone earning and contributing to society (as with this driver) whilst the scumbags carry on unmolested! Where is the justice in that I ask?
Indeed I am a non smoker myself, I just hate the fact that petty officials charged with menial work - catching dogs - are now being given power over the very people who's money keeps them employed.
"A spokesman for the council in Conwy - the town where the offence took place - said its three dog wardens were spearheading enforcement of smoking laws and had issued four fixed-penalty notices."
So are they dog wardens or smoking wardens and do they get a bonus for each smoker they catch, should they get a lab beagle that might be double points.
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