The price of cigarettes?

[Tyr]

AIBU to consider this a national disgrace? I'm in an airport at the minute and they have just cheerily charged me nearly £9 for a pack of cancer sticks.
To add insult to injury, "there is a smoking area;" actually just a door leading outside. You have to pay £1 to open it.
That is taking the piss, isn't it?

[dolldaggabuzzbuzz]

I'd tell them where to shove their cancer sticks if I were you.

[cybbo]

Yes it is taking the piss

They shoudl be £20 a pack and you shouldnt be allowed to smoke them anywhere

[ZXEightyMum]

A pound to open the door? Jesus.

I smoke and I am now seriously considering switching brands. To straight marijuana

[FourEyesGood]

A national disgrace - cigarettes being expensive? Our literacy levels are a national disgrace. Get some perspective.

[CrapolaDeVille]

TBH I'm glad it may mean that whne my children get to the age where they may start smoking they'll not be able to afford it.... sorry.

[BettySwollocksandaCrustyRack]

Dont smoke then - it's a disgusting and smelly habit. I think they should be more expensive

[mdowdall]

pound to open a door - now that is funny

[COCKadoodledooo]

A quid to open the door is definitely taking the piss!

I remember being outraged as a student when a pack of 20 went up to £3. Noticed the other day it's way more than that for even 10 now Am so glad I quit!

[fearnelinen]

I love it - the more they go up, the more I can tell DH I have saved and we must absolutely spend it on luxuries for me for being so amazingly brilliant and quitting!
So far I have wangled a cleaner, mani-pedi, facials and perfume!!!! Keep on rising please...!

Oh, but £1 to open the door is fucking ridiculous.

[BornSicky]

it's a fricking farce. I don't smoke anymore, but price would not deter me if i wanted to.

the door charge is ridiculous though. challenge it.

[ZXEightyMum]

When the NHS collapses because of the billions of pounds tax they collect compared to the mere millions they pay out for smokers you'll wish cigarettes were more affordable.

If I continue to smoke I am more likely to die earlier, thus saving money, of a nastier and quicker serious illness, thus saving money, and to not collect my pension for twenty or thirty years. Pensions comprise the majority of the benefit bill

But I don't want to die early having paid so much into the system so I am going to give up. I'm selfish like that.

[LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726]

I think the £1 per door opening is quite enterprising really...

£9 per packet though... yikes! I'm glad I don't smoke anymore. They were £1.50 per packet when I started...

[ASecretLemonadeDrinker]

Smokers are mugs.

[ZXEightyMum]

I could say the same thing about people who drink carbonated soft drinks, I've tried them and they just make you thirstier! It's an inescapable cycle of addition.

[onagar]

altinkum, even the NHS have admitted that they make more from the tax than it costs in extra smoker illness.

Not sure where you were going with "every year the cost of implication from people smoking rises" Given that less people smoke it must be falling.

The important thing you are all missing though is that this is unfair to the children of rich people. We are doing nothing to stop them smoking are we. If we really wanted to stop people smoking we'd stop them smoking - not demand a share in the profits.

Anyone would think it was just about getting the money and not about the health of the people at all!

[ZXEightyMum]

Alcohol is a drug which is taxed and profitable too but I've never seen stats wrt the cost to the NHS. I suppose they all get muddled because while serious alcoholics may drink themselves into an early grave, unlike your harmless young cigarette smoker, many young / occasional / binge drinkers cause untold damage and expense as a result of driving or fighting or just generally being out of control.

I would imagine that the legality of alcohol causes more expensive and serious harm to the population but there are few restrictions on it.

[Glitterknickaz]

Smoking or not is your choice.
There's the prices, don't want to pay them then don't.

[HerHissyness]

Sad to say, the national disgrace is not that Tyr got charged a £10 for a smoke, but what is a national disgrace is that anyone in this country with all the education we have is still daft enough to spend it!

Sorry! i know that is holier than thou ex smoker territory, but I gave up, 2yrs ago (well will be 2yrs in July) precisely because after smoking duty free and egyptian fags for years, the thought of having to hand over £6 a day to smoke was just too much for me, I couldn't do it.

Support to those who give it up, it really IS vile, and it will kill you, so pack it in. Life is for living, not for coughing!

[Onemorning]

YABU

It's not a national disgrace. It's a pain in the arse for you, though, which isn't the same thing.

[CroissantNeuf]

I'm more at the £1 to open the door than the price of the cigs.

Is the smokers are sponsored by Ryanair by any chance?

[CroissantNeuf]

oops - smokers area that is

[ginmakesitallok]

Because the numbers of smokers are falling they increase taxes on cigs for those of us who still smoke - to avoid revenue falling.

[ZXEightyMum]

You might as well be setting fire to a ten pound note every day or two and getting ever unhealthier for it, yes but when I give up I am looking forward to the sense of satisfaction I'll feel that Shiney Dave won't be getting that extra tax money in order to subsidise his mates while our most vulnerable are screwed.

[purplebrickroad]

Does anyone know how much the govt relies on taxes on cigarettes?
When they discovered the harm they cause the health minister (at the time) was told he could go on telly and give whatever warnings he liked but had to be filmed smoking at the time.
Sting apparently said that cocaine was God's way of telling you that you had too much money. Same with cigarettes?
Could anyone direct me to a site that would explain the healthcosts vs tax revenue on tobacco and alcohol?
Chinese make state employees buy cigarettes. Even if they don't smoke.

Would rather my kids smoked spliffs and e than cigarettes. But don't understand how the tax revenue would be affected.