The Smoking Ban "Hotline"

Has this created a "snitch society" or is it a just way of enforcing the UK smoking ban?

Aaah yes, the smoking ban snitchline. Heres how it works, and i know because i like to call them from time to time :


You speak to a moron who even an anti would agree would have a hard time working in mcdonalds. Trust me.

You report the "crime" (or in my case, i make up a fictional place), and answer stupid questions like "have you asked them to stop smoking?"

They then tell you that it will go on their database, and that they will contact the local council, who will pay them a visit in a few days time. In other words, when it doesnt even matter anymore. Love it.


The smoking ban snitchline is there of course to create a snitch society, and i can tell you that they are highly ineffective and underfunded.

The way it works is that if someone sparks up in a pub that wants to enforce the ban, they cant do anything about it because they cant be there. And if someone sparks up in a pub where they dont give a shit (a smokeasy) well then, thats when it can work. The problem is that the chances of an outsider even being aware of a smokeasy is next to nil, unless youre "in the know".

Thats why allowing smoking in pub is virtually undetectable. Its great. When people are careful, its more than easy to avoid the nazis.

And thats what antis are. They are nazis. They cant stand being called nazis but its a fact.

Love it.

Keep snitching, snitches, your snitchline is ineffective.

I use the so-called snitchline quite often. I think it's a good idea and it is even programmed into my mobile phone in case I need it at any time.

Sure it is not as good as it could be as most law-breakers only get a mild telling off, but I am hoping my latest one will be one that does not get away without a fine, mainly because I was badly affected this time and I have a number of witnesses.

I was on a coach jouney and the driver smoked on the coach while we were getting off, he had also smoked when he was the only one on the coach and that is still an offence.

I'm in touch with the local authority, I prefer contacting them directly as they are the ones who have to take action, although I did phone the 0800 Smoke-free England Compliance Line to begin with.

Prior to the ban, if I had been going to travel by private hire coach, I'd always check with the company that they operated a strict no smoking policy. I should no longer have to fear smoke on a coach, and this driver should be hung drawn and quartered as far as I am concerned because my chest has been bad for several days all because of his selfish smoking.

Oh yes and more about that coach company, on further investigations I discovered that their managing director is a convicted child sex offender so the people who organised the coach will no longer use this company, Collins Coaches, in Hanwell (London, W7).

Maybe for this reason even the smokers will support me this time!!

http://www.ealinggazette.co.uk/ealing-news/2008/02/29/naturist-scout-leader-had-300-images-of-child-porn-67372-20537450/

Can posters please bear in mind the question posed in my initial thread.

And Lilachamster, do stay on topic.

Thank you.

And I don't care if you call me a Nazi, sticks and stones..

Admin, please feel free to repost my experience in the right part of the forum if you think I posted in the wrong place.

Actually it could be said that an effect of the ban, for me, has been that as a severely smoke-allergic person I developed a false sense of security (regarding coach travel in particular).
This does not mean I am against the ban, on the contrary what it means to me is that it should have more teeth and that in all cases offenders should be heavily fined in order to deter them from reoffending. There should be no mild wrist slapping for first offences, that just means the offenders laugh about it and go and do it again, and again, and again.
If we are talking about the effect of the ban, I hope I have not gone too far off topic again.

Lilachamster, I would advise that you carefully read the initial posts in any thread that you wish to comment on, in order that the thread stays on topic.

Thank you.

It has not created a snitch society, and if it has I see nothing wrong with this, I would be happy if more people spoke up against wrongdoing, instead of just keeping quiet and allowing bullies of all kinds, including smokers, to do as they like and get away with it!
It is an attempt to enforce the law which is fair enough. I used to tell on smokers before the ban, if they smoked in no smoking places, the ban just makes it easier and clearer where it is not allowed and who we can tell on.
I would quite proudly snitch on anyone breaking a law which was a good law, there to protect people (or animals).

The post above shows that it is creating a snitch society, and its rodent author is a prime illustration.

Why dont you call the snithline right now, rodent? I smoke in pubs all the time, so how about you dedicate your life to trying to hunt me down. I bet it makes your blood boil to know that up and down the country there are pubs that do allow smoking and theres nothing you can do about it.

No seriously, there isnt. You may think there is but to get a result it requires a lot of time and effort, and i happen to know exactly how that snitchline operates and their very low success rate. And i love the fact that youre prepared to do that while the rest of us chill out down the pub and have a lovely smoke. Hmmm.

Love it.

Little chance I can hunt you down personally Leafar, I don't know your name or which pubs you go to, but if I was to catch you just by chance breaking the law, I would pursue the local authority for them to act.

Remember that I've already succeeded in getting a taxi driver fired for making me ill with his smoke, that was during my pregnancy a few years prior to the smoking ban. His company still fired him for his behaviour as others had complained about his conduct before. Funny that, that those who smoke and upset others with it are often the same people who are generally rude and anti-social in other ways (it does not surprise me at all)

I am now going after a dodgy coach company because a coach driver smoked on the coach as I was disembarking, the fact that the boss of said company is a convicted paedophile pervert means that they have undoubtedly lost a lot of business since that conviction (which I only found out about this week), and my efforts might just drive the final nail in this company's coffin. I have witnesses who have stated that they will back me up, so it is an open and shut case, I am sure the local authority will act as they should and fine the company because it is not just my word against the driver's.

Naughty girl Leslie,
Did you read about the woman that was pushed on the railway lines by those smokers that she had a go at ?
You really are not very well are you ? At least you have stopped 'scolding people in the street'
That's better isn't it ? Don't you now feel a bit normal.?
Your Stories - Lesley Dove

It all started in my childhood, my mother was and remains to this day a heavy smoker, and I am convinced that exposure to huge amounts of passive smoking in childhood and in utero is at the root of my ongoing health problems. I always had cold-like symptoms and chest infections as a child, I coughed from morning to night. It did not take me long to understand that this was because I was living in a very smoky house, so I begged my mother to only smoke outside for the sake of my health and yet she ignored my wishes, despite the constant antibiotics I was taking for chest infections, I was going through this all through my childhood and teenage years.

When I was at school I got bullied for coughing all the time which was something beyond my control as I was so full of thick phlegm clogging up my throat and lungs due to the effects of the smoke I was breathing at home. I also felt tired and listless and had a headache and sore throat all the time, I came to regard all this as the normal way to be and it was hard to make friends and just be a normal child and teenager with feeling so sick all the time! Most of all I felt hurt when some of my friends started smoking even when they knew how ill I felt from my mother's smoke, it felt like a betrayal when my best friend started smoking and I drifted away from her, partly due to this issue. I knew that my ill-health was entirely due to passive-smoking but I was powerless to persuade my mother to respond appropriately and make the house smoke-free for me.


When I left home as a young adult, I got a new lease of life, so long as I consistently avoided smoky places I was healthy, bubbly and in good spirits. I started to make friends much more easily, that was the most noticeable thing, it was like I was a different person, I seemed to become more likeable, and it still hurts that my mother had knowingly caused me to miss out for so long on the health and happiness I deserved, just because of her revolting addiction. I still worry even now about my lung and breast cancer risk levels, they could still be high from such a large amount of smoking passively.


I was doing well and seemed to bounce back soon after leaving home but gradually I have become more and more smoke-sensitive in the last 5 years or so. I had a bad attack of being unable to breathe, probably something like asthma, this was in my third pregnancy, and came on immediately from a second-hand smoke exposure in a taxi (only a few seconds of exposure was enough to provoke a serious reaction). I've had a few similar occurrences since and find I have to actually cross the road if someone is smoking and walking towards me, outdoors as well as indoors I have a powerful reaction to cigarette smoke, with coughing, sore throat, breathing trouble, headache, phlegm and usually mouth ulcers erupting within hours of exposure however small the exposure. Occasionally I have passed out.


I manage it mostly by strict avoidance and will never go to indoor places allowing smoking but at this stage I feel that this condition is probably going to be with me for life, and I will update you if anything changes and I find a miracle cure to allow me to cope without getting ill and coughing endlessly just doing the shopping.


I used to scold complete strangers in the street for smoking around children but this resulted in my suffering harassment and abuse, including nasty phone calls, and even a physical assault by a man who smoked around his young children and would see nothing wrong in it, so now I just cross the road and avoid such people. I still actively avoid making friends with anyone who smokes. I try to not draw too much attention to myself being so different from the average non-smoker, and it means I am quite shy and reserved now with new people. We have moved from the place where I had all the hassle and I keep a low profile now and do not confront smokers but it still upsets me seeing smoking parents hurting their children. I know exactly how it feels for those children and what it can do to them.

Actually this is a bit out of date as my mum has quit now, she had no choice, as she has a smoking related disease just as I warned her she would get pretty soon. I hate to tell her "I told you so" but I do anyway.

Well Lilachamster your mum has executed her freedom to choose regarding smoking, the reasons for doing so do not matter she had the choice, your relationship with your mother is not my concern so I'll refrain from commenting upon that.

Freedom of choice is the issue at hand, you have made your opinion on smokers abundantly clear, you dislike them, fine that is your right and I am all in favour of people exercising their rights.

We were born with the right to courtesy, I will treat you with courtesy, I expect the same from you so with that in mind let us look at the Smoking ban Hotline.

Firstly can I ask you why you believe the smoking ban hotline exists?

Secondly who's responsibility is it to uphold the law of the land?

Thirdly do you personally know what you can lawfully do in regard to smokers, or have any idea of which laws actually apply when dealing with people?

I think that is enough for you to be getting on with, I look forward to your reply.

*sigh* I suppose what you are saying is that I can report them to the hotline and the local authority but cannot legally take the law into my own hands and take the cigarette off them and stub it out (which I have done in my younger and braver days and make no apologies for, although I am more cautious for my own safety nowadays)

Lilachamster, i believe you have been asked the ollowing questions :


Firstly can I ask you why you believe the smoking ban hotline exists?

Secondly who's responsibility is it to uphold the law of the land?

Thirdly do you personally know what you can lawfully do in regard to smokers, or have any idea of which laws actually apply when dealing with people?


I dont think you answered all of them, and its no good just picking and choosing what to reply to. This is a debate, and these issues are too important to ignore.

You might learn smething too, believe it or not.

Lilachamster wrote:

*sigh* I suppose what you are saying is that I can report them to the hotline and the local authority but cannot legally take the law into my own hands and take the cigarette off them and stub it out (which I have done in my younger and braver days and make no apologies for, although I am more cautious for my own safety nowadays)

In part yes Lilachamster, i am glad the you have an eye out for your personal safety there are some extremely vicious individuals out there, I assume you mean many yerars ago when challenged people on the street, especially when you admit to what is in reality theft, destruction of property, assault. Of course the time constraints on these offences will have expired by now so do not worry yourself about the law showing up. If the person you took the cigarette from touched you in fairness you may of argued assault but you must remember that the law also allows reasonable force to defend life and property so yes it is a very foolish even dangerous position to put yourself into, even harranging smokers in the street could be interpreted as behaviour likely to cause a breach of the peace another criminal offence. Now i am not calling you a criminal I assume you have not been charged or found guilty of any offense, I am merely pointing out some of the pitfalls that await those who try to enforce the law while not knowing what they are doing, it is as the Anti smioking lobby tell us ad nauseum for your own good!

I think it is a snitch line. I used it too report myself for smoking and do you know what? They did not care that a person was smoking they where more concerned that the shopping center let someone smoke. My guess is that they get more money in fines from a shopping center then they would from 1 person.

Just a thought

Antis are so determined to impose their will on everyone else, that they dont see that the whole idea is to fine as many landlords as possible, to get as much money as possible.

Wakey wakey, antis. They dont give a shit about you, they just want lots of lovely money. And guess what, youre next. Theyve been softening up the dumbed down population foe the next phase...

...drinkers.

And when that happens, watch how the same tactic will be used : impose a massive and disproportionate fine on the business that breaks the next set of drinking related rules.

Oh, and by the way, it has been established that the smoking ban is actually illegal. Google is your friend, antis, look it up.

leafar wrote:

Antis are so determined to impose their will on everyone else, that they dont see that the whole idea is to fine as many landlords as possible, to get as much money as possible.

Wakey wakey, antis. They dont give a shit about you, they just want lots of lovely money. And guess what, youre next. Theyve been softening up the dumbed down population foe the next phase...

...drinkers.

And when that happens, watch how the same tactic will be used : impose a massive and disproportionate fine on the business that breaks the next set of drinking related rules.

Oh, and by the way, it has been established that the smoking ban is actually illegal. Google is your friend, antis, look it up.

At the end of the day we are all just a statistic. They look at new ways to rake in money from the people.

If its not parking fines its fines for being a day late in renewing your tax. If its not that its a congestion charge , Its tax on your food and drink , its road tax ,council tax , tax for the privilege of going to work , tax for bring things in to the country. Fines for smoking or dropping a crisp on the side walk
You even get taxed for dying.

Every waking moment your alive you are a little gold mine to the government
the possibility's are endless of how they can make money from you
each day you get poorer or have to work harder and loose money you could have to make your life a better one for you and your family.

My friend he gets taxed 22k a year just for running his own business having jcb,s
and other equipment and renting them out and on top of that fuel tax road tax council tax ,tax on his food and he has to pay the other workers money.

Think of how much money they take from us in our life time and then some day we die and because they cant get any more money out of us they tax us one last time for being dead.

How sick is that? let alone disrespectful.