A Birchington man has been fined £750 and ordered to pay £150 costs, after being found guilty of allowing smoking in a pub in the village in the first such prosecution by the council in Thanet.
The case came after the council's Licensing Officers and police officers visited Rumours in the Square, Birchington in February 2010. Members of the public had been seen walking through a door that was half open, which led to a function room. This was part of the licensed area and had a bar counter.
Officers entered the function room and immediately smelt cigarette smoke. On the bar counter, there was an ashtray full of cigarette butts and officers counted more than 20. The amount of differently marked filter ends indicated that a number of people had been in the room smoking. There were two other empty ashtrays in the room, which were heavily coated in tobacco ash.
At the back of the function room were three black rubbish sacks, one of which was open and on top was a large amount of tobacco ash.
The officers spoke to the person in charge, who was authorised to sell alcohol, Paul Waugh, and asked him who had been smoking in the room, to which he replied "I've had one".
The licence holder and designated premises supervisor, who is responsible for the sale of alcohol and the day to day running of the pub, is Richard Henry Davies (44) from the Square, Birchington. He was reported for having an illegal smoking room and the prosecution was brought under the 2006 Health Act, the first time Thanet District Council has brought a prosecution under this act for this offence.
He was fined £750, ordered to pay £150 costs and a victim surcharge of £15.
Philip Bensted, Licensing and Land Charges Manager, said: "This prosecution is the first that we've come across in Thanet, since the smokefree legislation came into effect, back in 2007. It's encouraging that we haven't come across this problem before, but if anyone else is operating or thinking they can get away with operating an illegal smoking room, then this case should send out a strong warning to them. This offence carries a maximum penalty of a fine of up to £2,500."
Tuesday 6 April 2010
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ReplyDeleteBlogger Bertie Biggles said... ( oops)
The reality is Peter, that air quality in square at Birchington has been poor for years due to heavy traffic and has RISEN way ABOVE EU guidelines. The problem with the fascist anti-smoking lobby is that they will not accept that as smoking has reduced in this country from above 50% to almost 27% that childhood asthma and lung complaints have increased dramatically. The cause?
Of course, if you cock a snook at the law, then pay the fine!
6 April 2010 14:57
Another pub where illegal indoors smoking is rife (as well as underage drinking - see today's Gazette) is the Shakespeare in Westbrook.
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