to think that smoking in a bus shelter when it's pouring with rain is incredibly selfish?

[AKMD]

[Disclaimer] I don't hate smokers; if people want to fill their bodies with foul gloop then that's up to them but I do mind a lot when they inflict it on me.

Anyway... I was waiting for a bus this morning. It was pouring with rain and there were several people in the bus shelter, one of whom lit up a cigarette. So everyone else (including small child in a pushchair) had the choice of either staying dry and inhaling the smoke or going outside and getting wet. AIBU to think the smoker should have got wet?

Vivi I did look and as I understand from it the standard bus stop will be classed as a "non-substantially enclosed building" and therefore exempt.

"On July 1st 2007, the smokefree law was introduced. It is now against the law to smoke in virtually all 'enclosed' and 'substantially enclosed' public places and workplaces. See below for definitions."

later...

"Premises are considered 'enclosed' if they have a ceiling or roof and (except for doors, windows or passageways) are wholly enclosed either on a permanent or temporary basis.

Premises are considered 'substantially enclosed' if they have a ceiling or roof, but have an opening in the walls, which is less than half the total area of the walls. The area of the opening does not include doors, windows or any other fittings that can be opened or shut.

Deffo rude and illegal, my work has bus shelter type things for smokers and they have taken all the side walls out to make it legal!

I'm a smoker, i hate to admit. but i never smoke in a bus shelter, ever. Just because i feel a bit rude doing it, even if i was the only one in the bus shelter i wouldnt. I always stand in the rain, with my big parka.

I had to take DD to the hospital this morning and it is a zero-tolerance for smoking place. Signs everywhere. By the entrances and exits fair enough, great. No problem. None. I wouldn't dream of it. I'd walk out to the road far away from everyone.

But they are there by the bus-stops and where MAJOR road works (massively extended car-park being built - oh very environmentally-friendly ) and the hypocrisy of that does piss me off a bit. Also, does a "non-smoking" hospital not accept tax revenue from tobacco? Doubt it.

It is illegal. There are signs on all the 3-sided bus stops saying it is illegal. <a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=bus+shelter+no+smoking&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=1280&bih=899&tbm=isch&tbnid=-TvpSVymJU5omM:&imgrefurl=www.geograph.org.uk/photo/358493&docid=MwIN_E2PQcozuM&itg=1&imgurl=s0.geograph.org.uk/photos/35/84/358493_518b4113.jpg&w=640&h=480&ei=DoPXTtDbJYj58QPtn6HkDQ&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=560&sig=108508892687602794687&page=1&tbnh=161&tbnw=213&start=0&ndsp=24&ved=1t:429,r:9,s:0&tx=158&ty=110" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Like this one

I would smoke in a bus shelter but if there were other people there, I wouldn't. Especially if they were elderly or children.

That link is good. So why is my local hospital trying to get people who may have been recently bereaved or in my case over the years, ABOUT to lose someone they love (DD) that they own the air around the hospital?

AKMD - your shelter has a rood??

So jealous!

Sorry I didn't mean to be rude but the OP said it was the kind of bus shelter that has sides, a back and a roof but no front, which according to that link makes it partially enclosed, making it against the law to smoke in there.

It is illegal. A local pub had a smoking shelter with a back, sides and a roof but open at the front and they had to change it as the council said that anything with three sides and a roof counted as enclosed.

Plus at the train station near me, very small country station there is a shelter like this with signs on saying it's illegal to smoke in it.

If all female smokers are like me then they wander off into the cold and wind for a while until they find a place where nobody is around and then they light up.

Frost, wind, snow, rain - makes no difference. We KNOW we are pariahs so we go further and further away from the non-smokers.

Then if we're not attacked we get hacking coughs and colds and sometimes pneumonia and it is blamed on our smoking.

Reading this thread makes me so pleased I have given up [bragging emotion].

If it's got sides and a roof it is illegal to smoke in it. A pub near us has a dog kennel for people to smoke in (I kid you not). I'm surprised the nazi's enforcement people haven't been round to axe it as it's clearly illegal. Smokers are treated worse than dogs even though it's only smokers going in to the dog kennel so not afflicting their smoke on anyone else in theory.

So glad I've packed in.

Pffft you think that's bad? I got to the bus stop today and some lady with a bad dye job was smoking in the bus shelter. It was 33 degrees and sunny

Selfish bint.

WinterIsComing; Allow me to play a tune for you on the world's smallest violin.

MIFLAW; Must try harder .

I'm a smoker and it's outside the bus shelter and round the back for me i'm afraid.

Smokers should try to be considerate of others and not inflict our dirty habit on others.

what squeakytoy said i am a smoker but always move away from other people and would never light up in a bus shelter with others there.

however if i was the only person in the bus shelter and there were no no smoking signs i might do, mind the only shelters we have as the kind with one side and then a bit of a roof and so three sides are open iyswim? so not really very enclosed.

I don't smoke but am on the smoker's side here, his her its ciggy would have got soggy in the rain.

When my asthma is bad (a lot) then I am breathless even when sitting doing nothing. Walk a few steps and I am totally gasping - add some smoke in to the mix and you are looking at a hosp trip.

Smoke if you want but not near me cos I am not going back to that hell hole.

I look perfectly fit and healthy, and when I am well I can do a good hour at gym with personal trainer. When ill am on oxygen, cant walk or count past 3 without needing a huge breath. So its not always obvious who will be affected by it.

@IronOrchid Did you read WinterisComing's posts?

OFGS ...we'll all die young, not get our pensions, contribute so much into the tax system ..... lighting up at a bus stop with the rain and the wind howling through is a small recompense really for all that smokers do for YOU!

I hate this! They have the right to smoke if they want to, but the rest of us have the right to choose not to smoke, so I resent situations like the one described by the OP where they are making others breath in their nasty smoke. To do it when there are small children in there to is particularly low.

Thats before I even mention the fact that it is illegal....

I'd forgotten about this thread (very tired earlier) but thank you WTFlike

The world's smallest violin eh? I would hate to think of my DD putting herself in danger of attack for the sake of not offending non-smokers. Do you have children? My parents do and they worry about me. I'll think about my children's safety until my (fairly early) dying day.

Agree with troisgarcons myself, no violin or irony. I'm doing my bit for the economy / debt / deficit by supporting the NHS to the tune of billions and deciding to die of a nasty thing and not claim a pension for thirty years.

DH's grandmother smokes like a chimney, fought with the RAF, raised three life-long tax-paying children and five tax-paying grandchildren and hasn't cost the NHS a penny in the latter half of her ninety years, bless her.

She wouldn't smoke at a bus-stop though.

I wouldn't normally smoke at a bus-stop, except that anyone knows that the moment you light up a bus will come along. This is a truism that I have known to be a fact for the last 20 years. I have saved many people from getting wet.

iron yes let's play winter a tune on the worlds smallest violin ffs

Should smoking in a bus stop be dependant on who's there first

^ when its illegal, no.