Smoking outside in populated public places.

[Readytoevolve]

It was a beautiful day as I sat outside my local coffee shop with my 2 children, drinking smoothies and soaking up the sunshine.
Then BOOM, the table next to us lights up a cigarette and it blows our way.

The day before we were lining the streets for a tractor run…. We had a front view and the kids are at the front. Then BOOM, a man behind us lights up just as it’s beginning and is breathing the smoke down on us.

Why oh why is smoking allowed outside, and not just in designated smoking areas, where they can all sit and smoke together. It happens us all the time.

Yes they’re entitled to do it, but is it right? Hell no.

AIBU?

Yes, bleak having to walk my children to their asthma clinic appointments through a cloud of cigarette smoke

I also agree with a PP about people smoking weed everywhere. Brighton is a nightmare for it. Try and sit on the beach for some fresh sea air. No chance!

As an ex smoker I still enjoy the whiff of someone else’s fag.
Sorry!

As an ex-smoker, I'd be tempted to scrounge one off somebody and spark up just to get rid of a couple of annoying kids and their po-faced parent.

"Smoking is enjoyable and looks cool"

If you say so...😂

You wanted the smokers to be outside then you go outside and sit with them. How’s can that be their fault?

You can bang on about smokers being selfish all you like, they can smoke outdoors. If you don’t like it, then move your kid.

Or don’t. Doesn’t bother me either way 🤷🏻‍♀️

Smoking outside is legal.
Non smokers have indoor spaces, where it is not legal to smoke.
If you don't want to be around smoke, sit indoors.

Me too. Just because someone is smoking outdoors doesn't mean you need to be a stuck up twat about it 😊

Action on Smoking and Health (ASH):

• ASH reports that the cost of smoking to the NHS is approximately £1.9 billion annually. The overall societal cost, including lost productivity, is estimated to be at least £21.8 billion each year.
• Full report: ASH Press Release, May 2024 (ASH)

YANBU.

Many smokers gather outside doorways and entrances meaning that people have no choice but to walk through a cloud of smoke. It’s vile and the smell stays with you. They should at least have to move away a certain distance so that non smokers can avoid walking though smoke.

I’m sure I remember when the indoor smoking ban was introduced there being a law that smokers had to be so many metres away from a building. If it’s still the case, it doesn’t happen.

We also have a problem with the local hospital’s non smoking policy and smokers thinking it’s ok to gather in groups right outside the entrance instead of stepping away a bit so that people can walk in smoke free.

The same goes for vaping, which is just as bad.

Now do tractor runs

I want to live in your town, where people smoke TNT and shag in the street . . .

Leeds?

I am a smoker and I agree with you. I worry about annoying other people when I am smoking. I’m no angel but try my best, I don’t smoke in my home/car, outdoor seating areas or walking through streets. Before work I pull in to the back of a carpark to an empty section and have one there, on my breaks I go a walk and stop in a secluded area, at home I do smoke in my back garden but never if neighbours windows or doors are open/kids are out playing and I always go to the corner furthest away from anyone else.
Other than the smell I hate the littering. This is so bad now with vaping too. All the bins in our area are covered in vape stickers, boxes dropped everywhere it’s disgusting. I dispose of mine in the bin once it’s out and cold.
I do think that I do all this because I am slightly embarrassed that I do smoke. I do want to stop but haven’t got there yet so it’s almost like a naughty secret.

Now also do obesity, drinking, driving, people not able to get to a doctor, mental health services (especially given no community help), people having kids and needing maternity care, csections, etc (especially once you’ve had more than the socially responsible 2.4). The fact is anyone can pick on something slightly irresponsible and say it’s a cost to the NHS but unless we want to live in a society where only blameless, tee total gym bunnies get free medical treatment this is a dodgy argument.

And surely to be fair you’d have to deduct all of the revenue generated from
tax by taxing tobacco companies and smokers alike.

@HootyMcBooby diacetyl is banned in U.K. liquids
Vitamin E has only ever been found in bootleg liquids

If you purchase from a standard place it will have PG, VG and flavourings and sometimes nicotine
It's totally different to American stuff which has much less strict regulation

If you buy fakes or bootleg stuff off a mate then yeah it can have anything in but vaping liquid is strictly regulated in the UK

I've found most of an outside area to be non smoking and a small part designated to it everywhere?

@HootyMcBooby that's a study about vaping in America. Vitamin e acetate in vapes has been banned in the EU for years. America has vastly reduced regulations regarding vaping.

I'm a smoker and I wouldn't ever light up in front of children (including my own) but saying that I'd rather be sat next to a smoker with my kids than an aggressive drunk that's been out frying in the sun all day. A few minutes of second hand smoke out in the open isn't going to hurt you but loud, obnoxious drunk people who stumble over and try and speak to me and my kids really pisses me off and could be dangerous. Luckily for us OP we don't live in communist China and people still have a degree of freedom to live their lives has they see fit, you do have the option of walking away or of only patronising 100% smoke free establishments. There are some people who hate having to share their space with young children but it's their tough luck - you just have to get on with it.

There’s a lot of “may” in that link.

I posted about this kind of issue the other day, passive aggressive neighbours. I’m not breaking any laws or rules. But dealing with behaviours which make me want to chain smoke a box of cigarettes outside so they quit complaining about a vape. Can’t vape near balcony/window/ entrance they must expect me to walk halfway down the street. Which they pollute the air I breathe with their massive luxury vehicles whilst not liking communal living in social housing. Buy a run around and save up for the countryside surely. Make it make sense.

I think we’re moving further and further into nanny state ism where all of our behaviours are going to be policed, Take school holidays and homeschooling for example. People are becoming very morally superior towards each other.

You sound really considerate - good luck trying to give up!

Absolutely this

Wish they'd all fuck off

Unknown chemicals are good enough for me, as is the say so of a respiratory toxicologist of 30 years.