People that ignore no smoking signs at airports and train stations should be fined

[raranah]

Most stations and airports have smoking areas so that people going in and out dont have to breathe in smoke.

However it seems the bast majority just ignore these signs and smoke right at the entrances even though they clearly say no smoking and smoking zone is round the corner.

Aibu to think they should employ someone to hand out 199 fines? That should easily cover the cost of employ ing someone.

I'm an ex smoker - I don't mind a bit of passive smoke (in fact I quite like it!) I do think that smoking should be allowed outside the airport - in a designated area or even a smoke room inside, people are going to have to go for ours without smoking - give them little help - or there might be more stressed out people in the queues and on the planes!

I'd hate it too AND I smoke (but only where allowed). It's a fact that some (not all by any means) smokers are selfish - but there are lots of selfish people in the world - the two mums walking two abreast with their double buggies this morning so nobody could get past for example. Fining the smokers is a bit OTT though - although I do approve of the fines they get when dropping their butts outside the station door ha ha.

I love a bit of passive smoke as well.. I've been known to walk right behind a smoker just breathing in when I'm off them.

I'm a bit at the people defending smokers rights to smoke in the no smoking area. There is clearly a smoking area and a no smoking area, I'd of thought of all places I'd get more support for this.

Lazy entitled smokers, that want to smoke anywhere they please.

Rarana if it is not a non smoking area and I not enclosed on 3 sides it is obviously a smoking area...

The place that this annoys me the most is outside of my local hospital! They have signs everywhere but nobody enforcing it so some smokers stand right outside the entrance smoking!

I have no idea what you mean. Probabably still going on about wanting to smoke in an area designated as no smoking. There is very few outdoor places that say no smoking. Its not exactly taxing to not smoke there.

But hey you've seen non smokers be mean to smokers, so therefore all smokers should just smoke wherever they like.

What next going into a veggie cafe and demanding they cook you a beef burger?

But if there is no smoking signs (and they are normally huge ) then its a no smoking area having fag smoke blown in your face is horrible unless you are an ex smoker sniffing about smokers

I have no idea what you mean. Probabably still going on about wanting to smoke in an area designated as no smoking. There is very few outdoor places that say no smoking. Its not exactly taxing to not smoke there.

But hey you've seen non smokers be mean to smokers, so therefore all smokers should just smoke wherever they like.

What next going into a veggie cafe and demanding they cook you a beef burger?

As a smoker I was actually sympathetic to your plight, but am fast running out actually. Right, off outside for a fag.

It is about time that non smokers and people with respiratory problems are allowed to breathe in smoke free air.

It will never happen.

Does that include banning all exhaust fumes, and coal fires (you can't go outside in the Winter in our village without coughing your guts up because of the coal fires).

I'm with you OP. As a daily London commuter (pre mat leave) this has annoyed me for years. Outside both my local station and London Waterloo there are clear no smoking signs which are completely ignored. There is, without fail, a cloud of smoke to walk through if you want to get in and out of the station. I respect smokers' rights to smoke where it is permitted but find it really frustrating there is no enforcement of the no smoking areas. When I was pregnant and had some pretty nasty morning sickness this was deeply unpleasant. In a way I actually blame the lack of enforcement more than the smokers themselves, who probably see the lack of enforcement as a sign that nobody minds.

I am laughing about the idea that you can take DC or smoke in a Bookies.

I can't defend anyone smoking in a no smoking area but I don't think stations and airports can legally fine anyone, the Police are strapped for resources already so I can't see fines being the way forward.

How about smokers be more responsible? actually pay attention to signs and also look where your smoke is going when lighting up outside.

It is about time that non smokers and people with respiratory problems are allowed to breathe in smoke free air.

Are you going to ban cars and industrial buildings and buses etc etc etc.

I'm not a smoker and don't agree with smoking under no smoking signs, but MN does seem to like bashing smokers.

Lazy entitled smokers, that want to smoke anywhere they please.

Wondered when the sweeping generalisations would start.

--I am a non smokers if it matters-

Smoking is an addiction, and smokers will sneak a crafty fag in if they think they can get away with it. If nobody is 'policing' an outdoor area, then a no-smoking sign is going to be pretty ineffective.

I think you're expecting too much of human beings, really .

I dont smoke, by the way.

There's a new green certification (ISO, possibly?) which requires buildings to not only ban but enforce a ban on smoking within a certain radius of the building.

Smokers should be free to smoke as long as they're not infringing upon my right to not breathe their second-hand smoke.

I don't smoke myself but I'll never get the hatred people seem to have on these threads towards smokers. Smokers are usually addicts who are risking a much shorter and less pleasant life. Don't you think they deserve your pity, not your disdain?

Anyway, re the OP, yes it's very inconsiderate of them not to use he designated smoking areas, but if you had maybe spoken to the smoker they may have explained why they were doing it there or moved. These threads always get a bit us v them which I can't stand; smokers are still human beings.

I don't smoke myself but I'll never get the hatred people seem to have on these threads towards smokers.

I don't hate them, I merely take great joy in having lovely, clean, fresh hair and I bitterly resent being stuck in close proximity to someone who blows smoke all over it. Same thing for clothes. The smell clings. Why should anyone have the right to make my hair smell bad?

Well I hate smelly hair too and anyone cooking sausages near me will make my hair smell bad, but I probably wouldn't call them disgusting for it or say they should be fined. I used to wrap a towel round my head as a teenager if I was about to go out and someone decided to cook somrthing a bit smelly.

Eh? I smoke (not a lot admittedly) and my hair doesn't smell.
Smells quite nice in fact.

In the days you used to be able to smoke indoors, dear lord that was horrible.
You had to wash bedding, clothes, hair and everything the next morning.

Anyhooo... I just came on to say I smoke and don't like the generalisations either.
I never smoke near an entrance. I never blow smoke in peoples faces and in fact have never seen a smoker do that.
But my OH says I'm not a 'proper' smoker because I'm way too considerate of where and when I smoke.
I will always check people don't have windows open if I am near a house a building etc....
It's just good manners.

The whinging and whining about some outdoor smoke is quite tedious imo, and I'm a non smoker.

However, I can't believe a pp asked and WHY on earth do people still smoke?

Well that will be because they're addicted to nicotine, surely?

Other reasons people may use nicotine as a crutch will be similar (if not exactly the same), as the reasons many overweight people say they use food as a crutch, even when they know they risk damaging their health.

Not all coping mechanisms are healthy, but that's addiction for you.

*Lazy entitled smokers, that want to smoke anywhere they please.

Wondered when the sweeping generalisations would start.*

That clearly wasn't a generalisation of all smokers, just the lazy entiled ones that smoke in no smoking areas.

"But why is a smokers right to smoke in an area where there are signs clearly asking them not to more important than being courteous to everyone else.

No it's not illegal, but it is rude and entitled"

This^^

Plus, the people running the station, bus shelters etc. (council, nationalrail, I'm not sure?) have decided not to allow smoking there. And put up signs to that effect. So you shouldn't smoke there.

Remember the naked sauna thread? There was pretty much a consensus that if nakedness was not allowed in that sauna then she shouldn't be naked. Surely the same applies to no-smoking signs? The decision has been taken.

I know some people will say I'm being ridiculous, but I suspect for some people there may be a taint of discrimination in some of the language they use about smokers. In my experience smokers are massively disproportionately concentrated among those with severe mental illnesses, the poor, the working class, the marginalised and the disenfranchised. If I go to the pub with friends from (highly educated, wealthy) town A, nobody pops out for a fag all night. If I go to the mental health drop-in cafe in (mostly working-class, high unemployment rate) town B, almost everybody troops out for a cigarette every half an hour.

It's not like you have to be highly educated or wealthy to know smoking is bad and stop buying cigarettes, so what else is going on here?

The terms "lazy" and "disgusting" are ones I hear so often about people like my friends from town B (some unemployed, some with mental illness, racially diverse, mostly low-income).

I know what you mean Real. There is a disproportionate level of disdain imo towards smokers in RL and also online and I do wonder where the disgust comes from. I also think that if you're addicted / using nicotine as a crutch to the point where you will risk shortening your life significantly, there are most likely some other problems in your life.