£140 fine for the smoking cabbie

£140 fine for the smoking cabbie

Apr 25 2008 by Staff Reporter, Daily Post
http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/2008/04/25/140-fine-for-the-smoking-cabbie-55578-20817512/
A TAXI driver puffing on a cigarette in his cab is one of the first people in Wales to be prosecuted for smoking in the workplace.

Peter Henry of Llanfair Caereinion was fined £140 by Welshpool magistrates after he pleaded guilty to smoking at the wheel.

Henry was seen by two officers from the council’s Licensing Department, smoking while driving his taxi in Welshpool.

Magistrates also heard he had had a warning letter about a previous offence a few months earlier.

Henry told the court that he smoked 40 a day, but as a result of the prosecution he would try to quit.

Steve Clinton, the council’s public protection manager, said: “The aim of this law is to protect workers and the public from the harmful effects of second-hand smoke.

“If people do not comply with the law, we will investigate.”

The smoke-free premises regulations make it an offence to smoke in a vehicle if it is used for the transportation of the public, such as a taxi.