To ask smokers to move away from station entrance?

[PinkyAndTheBump]

I don't like walking through a cloud of smoke to get into station. It's a small station, with single entrance on this side of tracks - like double French doors, so no other alternative.

Would it be unreasonable to request Greater Anglia to mark out a hashed yellow "no-smoking" area there? It's not as if it actually provides them any shelter from the weather than standing elsewhere, and don't get me started on the litter of their stubs!

I've tried (politely) asking smokers not to stand right by the entrance, but just get verbal abuse back!

plenty ppl say perhaps smokers don't realise when we are trying to think of reasons why maybe they are not being as selfish as it seems. Otherwise, you could say that "just can't stop" is why you would smoke, but "Just don't care" is why you would smoke at the entrance to the station and then post all these amazingly cross things when ppl say it's antisocial.

I do have sympathy, my DSIS smokes and can't shake it off. So did my best friend from school, for 40 years before her new man put his foot down.

Lost track, was this the petition to make it illegal? I don't think that is a serious way to help anyone except perhaps the mafia. I would sign a petition to fast track research into whether vaping is definitely safe and, if it is, make it available free on the NHs to genuine smokers who want to stop.

Anyway whether or not the country could afford it i would still stop selling it. Though i think the ban and rise in price seems to be working lots of people i know have quit.

Though as a lot of smokers seem happy to accept the consequences the important thing is to do as much as possible to protect children, they are not choosing to smoke. I guess those that dont like the smoking in entrances hopefully can be grateful it is in open air and they arent subjected to this in restaurants, work, and especially their homes and cars.

My dad started smoking at 13 because it was the cool thing for cool kids to do. About a year after he quit he found that his sense of smell and taste improved and has continued to improve to that of a non smoker. He now understands why his dc never wanted to be near him after he smoked as he also now finds the the smell of putting.

The amount of smokers who buy mints or chewing gum when they buy their fags amazes me. Do they really think that will mask the smell? Same with the ones who wash their hands after smoking :-/

Your breath, fingers, clothes, car and houses stink of it (even if you smoke outside the smell is still on you and gets into your house).

It stains your teeth and your fingers.

If you walk through a non smokers house after a fag and hid they could find you just by following the fumes coming off you.

Is it really that hard to move away from the doorway?

Just realised I hadn't even pointed out the widely known health risks involved with smoking and passive smoking.

As a smoker you have the choice to inhale chemicals into your body. By standing in the only doorway into a building you are denying others the choice not to inhale you're smoke fumes. They may not be able to hold their breath long enough to avoid it but really why should they have to? It's the smoker being anti social with their behaviour... And don't get me started on the I can't be arsed to put my fag out let alone bin it brigade.

BackOnlyBriefly You've clearly never struggled to breathe, have you? The last thing sick people need is a vomit/cough inducing stench making its way into the ward. Maybe folk should be a little less selfish?

Can I just chuck in that some of those smokers may have just finished a train journey of several hours, and might be absolutely gagging for a fag.
It might not be down to the pure selfishness that some people think it is.
Addiction is a powerful thing -thats why people smoke in loos etc and break the rules.

That doesnt work as an excuse as they would continue to move away from the doorway with fag, not tied to the spot.

I hope they ban it in pub gardens/cafes etc as when no seats inside and young baby with smoker sat next to you blowing it around baby makes me very angry.

Some consideration for asthmatics/old people and children. Not all children are brought up being smoked over. Imagine running a race being out of breath, cant get enough- and thats how asthmatics feel some im sure caused by parents smoking round them.

I know how it feels naty -I've been hospitalised with asthma more than once.

But outside is outside, and while I can see that smoking on a hospital site where the smoke is filtering into the wards is a different scenario to the one in the op,while people are chugging out exhaust fumes in the station carpark, and taxi rank (which is often directly by the exit),I can't understand the angst over fag smoke.

Some consideration for asthmatics/old people and children

Some consideration for smokers too, perhaps??

As has been said, for some the urge to control never stops - they get one thing banned and instantly move on to something else. Granted most folk wouldn't expect to suffer smoke indoors these days, but to me, calls for smoking to be banned in the open air are well into hysteria territory

I don't think I am persuaded by the "risks" of moving very briefly through fag smoke. They must be tiny: I do worse to myself every time I have a drink or snarf down a bit more chocolate and add to my excess weight.

For me it is just another example of ppl being inconsiderate and selfish in something fairly trivial, and it's frustrating because it is so unnecessary. There are lots of examples in life, it's not just smokers.

Minimising by saying it's no worse than perfume; and exaggerating by saying that being asked to walk five feet is the same as having to leave the car park: these are both ways of ducking the issue.

It is rude and inconsiderate, and it would be so easy to walk just a few feet and solve the problem, so why are ppl so keen on doing it?

Two reasons perhaps.

Firstly I think perhaps smokers know in theory that they smell awful but don't really feel the truth of it- they think ppl are being a bit precious. Lots of ppl go out for a fag and then come and sit down next to you, clearly unaware of what they still smell like. For them to say it's like perfume just tells you they don't understand that the smell is actively unpleasant to others, not just a smell you wouldn't personally choose. And walking through the cloud means you also smell afterwards, which perhaps they also don't get.

Secondly I think smokers feel very angry and sad that their smoking is banned in public places and so widely disliked, and we have touched a bit of a nerve here.

Well, I am not a smoker, and I think people are being precious and ridiculous.

Pub and cafe gardens, people wanted smoking banned indoors. So now people do it outside and there is still moaning.

So now people want it banned there, too.

Next it will be vaping.

banning it outside is ridiculous. Ppl should be able to smoke outside.

Moving away from right by the door is not ridiculous IMHO.

Well I'm really disappointed that none of you are campaigning to have smoking banned altogether. Arguments about what happened with prohibition in the US are a bit spurious really. We already have a big tobacco smuggling problem and the reason it manages to continue is that there's a legitimate trade in tobacco for illicit goods to hide in. Ban smoking altogether and it would be way harder for the smuggled goods to hide. After all, as you all keep saying, smoking stinks!

This is a product that kills HALF of all people who use it - 10% of the entire population of the UK. If anything else was causing that rate of death people would be up in arms that it wasn't banned.

I don't believe for a minute that a campaign to ban smoking altogether would be successful but I'd love to see the debate happen. It would blow the hypocrisy wide open - this is absolutely about the money.

How about pub and cafe gardens, Beast? Some on here want it banned there, too. Like I said, next it will be vaping.

I agree, Pubes, why not ban tobacco use altogether?

How about pub and cafe gardens, Beast? Some on here want it banned there, too.

A different discussion. Ok, then, let's leave smoking at the entrance to a building and go to smoking in pub and cafe gardens.

There has to be somewhere comfortable for ppl to smoke. The law that we've all agreed on says it has to be outside: that means they get first dibs on the garden. It's only fair.

If there's room, a bit of non-smoking garden would be nice, because then you aren't sitting right next to a smoker. Sitting right next to a smoker, with the smoke blowing over you by the wind or because of the way the tables are arranged, is different from someone smoking ten feet away in the open air.

But only if there's room.

I don't believe for a minute that a campaign to ban smoking altogether would be successful but I'd love to see the debate happen. It would blow the hypocrisy wide open - this is absolutely about the money.

Not for me, it isn't. I really don't want what amounts to blood money from you guys dying young. I honestly would rather take my chances on taxes going up.

I am uneasy about a ban because of how anyone would enforce it; and because ppl are truly addicted so they would have little choice but to break the law, possibly for the first time in their lives.

But would I support legislation that had a real chance of destroying smoking? you bet. Something around no sales to ppl under 25; and free vaping for addicted smokers (if vaping turns out to be safe)

Those of you who don't understand why smokers get a bit pissed off when you come and mildly wag your oh so reasonable finger at them: you're only seeing your own contribution in isolation. You don't seem to realise that when you point out that smoking smells and has health risks you're not telling them anything new, you're not helping, you're simply adding to the avalanche of nagging that smokers face every day. YOU may be satisfied if they just move a few feet further away but somebody else won't, they'll push them a bit further and then somebody else will push them a bit further again. You can see the end result of this in people's reaction to vapers who are similarly vilified for no good reason at all.

It's already happening with vaping LeftRightCentre. Have you seen the WHO position paper? This is due to be debated in a few days' time. Excellent rebuttals here and here. There's also a handy TL;DR rundown of the debate here

Then there's the EU Tobacco Products Directive which will ban pretty much everything on the market except for those shitty little cig-alikes which a) don't work and b) are largely made by the tobacco companies. Talk about an own goal!

Trying to understand it, plenty. Isn't there a difference though between saying, don't smoke at the entrance where everyone has to walk through you; and, "I don't want you around at all"?

The first one is reasonable. It's much easier to tell the second one to get lost if you are being reasonable about the first one.

It's a bit like taking kids to restaurants. There will always be ppl who say, don't bring your kids at all, we don't want them here. It's much easier to resist that if your kids are behaving fairly well. If they are runnng around yelling and disturbing everyone, it's not as easy to make the case why they ought to stay there.

It's a bit harsh to say, I won't do the obvious reasonable thing, because if I do someone else will ask me to do something totally unreasonable. I do see the "thin end of the wedge" argument, but we get that all the time in life. It's not actually that hard to draw the line and say: OK, we will leave the entrance clear but we are going to smoke here.

And I am all in favour of vaping, assuming it turns out to be safe, I think it could be a life saver.

I am sorry that smokers get unreasonable rudeness, though. Your best defence might be to engage the ppl who are only asking for what is reasonable.

YaBU..and I say that as a non smoker who has never smoked. Hold your breath fot a few seconds or something

Has everyone here who has an opinion on vaping read this: www.clivebates.com/?p=2391

It is straight forward and easy to read.

Beast, it's great you're supportive of vaping but there are a couple of problems with the idea that it should be proved completely harmless and should be made available for free on the NHS.

1. It's impossible to prove anything is completely safe - not the water you drink, the food you eat, the clothes you wear ... the best science can do is fail to find evidence of harm. As it happens, there have now been rather a lot of ecig studies (even this list isn't completely up-to-date) and, while they may not be completely harmless, the expert debate is now about whether vaping is 95% or 100% less harmful than smoked tobacco, or somewhere inbetween. This has to be good enough if we are not to miss out on their potential to save lives.

2. One of the biggest reasons that vaping works for so many people is that it is enjoyable (moreso than smoking) and not medicalised. Vapers customise their kit and eliquid to suit themselves. A one-size-fits-all medicalised solution would be doomed to the same failure rates as other forms of NRT (~93%). Having said that, a couple of enlightened Stop Smoking Services (Leicester and Hampshire) are currently experimenting with giving quitters £20 vouchers for vaping kit and pointing them in the direction of expert advice (other vapers!). They are able to do this only because it's a research project and the vouchers are officially a 'thank you' for participating - they cannot prescribe ecigs under the current rules. Effective ecigs are a consumer product and could never be made to comply with a medicinal licence. There are two devices that are currently going through the licencing process. I predict that they will be dismal failures (although for the extremely cautious, they could be a good, extra-safe proof of concept before they move onto decent kit).

A while back, it looked likely that all ecigs would have to be medicalised. This is a good explanation of why that would be a very wrong approach.

Yanbu, smokers have the right to stink themselves out, they don't have the right to inflict that disgusting smell onto others. People eating smelly food don't make other people who aren't eating smelly food smell. Heavy perfume users aren't spraying it on passers by. Smokers are breathing their fumes on everyone and making them smell too, that should be illegal.

The expert debate is now about whether vaping is 95% or 100% less harmful than smoked tobacco, or somewhere inbetween. This has to be good enough if we are not to miss out on their potential to save lives

You'd think so, yes - but as I've said, common sense doesn't always come into it; sadly, it's more important for some to harangue and control than to consider a massive saving in lives

What, like this you mean?