Van driver gets £200 fine for not having a ‘no smoking’ sign even though he doesn’t smoke
A WASHING machine repair man has been slapped with a £200 fine for not having a 'no smoking' sign on his van – despite the fact he doesn't smoke.
Trevor Emery, who set up his business in 1980 and works with son Lee, said he was “flabbergasted” when he was handed the fine by a council enforcement officer.
Trevor said he had parked up in Canterbury, Kent, to unload a washing machine when he was approached by the clipboard-wielding official earlier this month.
Despite being parked on a yellow line while he unloaded – which Trevor thought he was being pulled up for – he was informed he was being fined for not having a “no smoking” sign on his work van, a law which came into force in 2006.
The repair man said the officer from Canterbury City Council's Safer Neighbourhood team even told him he would only have been fined just £50 if he was actually caught smoking in his van – four times less than not having a "no smoking" sign up.
Trevor, 69, who runs his business called Wash Freeze from his home in Whitstable, Kent, said: "We were parked on double yellow lines – which we are allowed to do for unloading – so I thought the officer would bring us up on that.
"But then he said about this weird law. I was expecting a £30 fine or something like that – not £200!"
He added: “Surely the best thing to do was to give us a fair warning and tell us to get a sticker. But that didn’t happen.
"If we were actually caught smoking in the van, the fine would be just £50. That is just ridiculous."
He added: "If we had known then the sticker would have been in the van straight away.”
Trevor paid a discounted fine of £150 and has now put “no smoking” stickers on all his vehicles.
The maximum fine for not having a no smoking sign in a workplace – which includes company vehicles – is £1,000.
And the maximum fine for actually being caught smoking in an enclosed workplace is £2,500.
Doug Rattray, the Head of Safer Neighbourhoods said: “It is an offence to not display a 'no smoking' sign in a vehicle that is used for commercial purposes.
“This is the case regardless of whether someone is self-employed, the only person to use the vehicle or if nobody smokes in it.
“We enforce this but the level of fine is set nationally in law.
“Mr Emery received a fine, which he paid, for this offence. He was advised on the legislation and given the correct sign.”
A spokesman for Canterbury City Council said that around 50 fines had been given out for not having No Smoking signs displayed in works vehicles since the law came into force in 2006 – just five a year.
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