Van driver fined for not displaying ‘No Smoking’ sign

By Fleet News
|
5 February 2013

A van driver has been handed a £200 fine for not displaying a ‘No Smoking' sticker on his new vehicle.

Freddie Beasley from Cleankill Environmental Services had just picked up the brand new van from a garage when he was pulled over in a joint police and council operation to clamp down on dangerous vehicles, according to the Daily Mail.

However, council officers spotted the vehicle wasn’t displaying a 'no smoking' sticker on his new van and he was given an on-the-spot fine of £200.

Beasley tried to explain that he had only just picked the new van up from a workshop where workers had painted the Cleankill logo on the side and that he was driving it back to the firm's HQ in Surrey.

The law states that any 'company vehicle' must have a no smoking sign - meaning that if he had been in the van with no logo he wouldn't have been fined as it would have been considered a 'personal van'.

Paul Bates from Cleankill Environmental Services said: “Let this be a warning to anybody that drives a company van.

“The irony is that if our technician had been smoking he would have been fined four time less, just £50.”

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Author: Fleet News

Comments (10)

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Comments

GrumpyOldMen - 05/02/2013 10:15

EU first directive: "if you can interfere and legislate against something that doesn't need interfering or legislating against, then do it and feel smug". Poor Freddie. The law is the law even if it would be an affront to donkeys to call it an ass.
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Mark - 06/02/2013 11:51

The country is going mad!... for money raised through fines!!!
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Paul - 06/02/2013 12:14

What absolute madness.
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Roger - 06/02/2013 13:09

The lunatics really have taken over - heaven help us!
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Paul Green - 06/02/2013 13:25

In the meantime kids are getting stabbed on the streets and the elderly are left to die due to neglect of care by the council (see yesterdays news story about Surrey council in particular)! A broad lesson in common sense is needed for some people that are let free with such "powers", and for their bosses too. If, of course, this is the whole story.
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Richard - 06/02/2013 16:41

Was this entrapment? If the operation was "to clamp down on dangerous vehicles" did they really think a brand new van would be dangerous? So there was no real reason to pull it over other than to try and find some red tape technicality.
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- GrumpyOldMen - 06/02/2013 17:01
  
  @Richard - Very good point! Surprised they didn't tazer Freddie.
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- Richard Downey - 06/02/2013 19:20
  
  @GrumpyOldMen - I still can't get over the fact that the fine for not having a no smoking sticker on the dash is 4 times more than the fine for actually smoking and more than twice that for Speeding parking infringements etc. So the penalty for breaking the law that is the point of the exercise is much less than that for not advertising the law. Might be worth getting the Van manufacturers to put the stickers on them in the factory to avoid any risk and private owners can either ignore the signs/deface them/remove etc.!!
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C.W - 06/02/2013 23:42

This is outragious,it just goes to show the Smoking ban was all about money,fining people for doing something that has gone on for centuries in enclosed spaces and the millions that the Pharmaceutical Companies make selling useless nicotine patches and gum.
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Ajb - 07/02/2013 15:50

Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity - looks like 0 for 3 May the force be with you...................
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Sage & Onion - 07/02/2013 16:50

The contours of many dashboard layouts these days don't allow a sticker to be fixed to it adequately, and some don't even have the space, especially if there are other, perhaps more important, signs to be fitted according to company policies etc. And then there is the sticky (or not) issue of the plastic material accepting a sticker (I've had many fall off within minutes of application). Fixing the sticker to the glass creates more risk than the sticker is "designed" to prevent because that can reduce visibility and create dangerous blindspots. So, it is sometimes only possible to fix the sticker to the sun visor. I wonder how long it will be before we hear of the first fine issued by a council official (or police officer for that matter) for not displaying the no smoking sign properly depending upon whether the sun visor is up or down? When that happens, that'll be the day that I jack this profession in so that I don't have to pay tax to support the idiots who clearly aren't capable of providing a proper public service.
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- GrumpyOldMen - 07/02/2013 17:17
  
  @Sage & Onion - Tax disc holder. Our contract hire company supplies all cars with a no smoking version. Sorted.
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GrumpyOldMen - 07/02/2013 17:13

I'd like to know if the PM's XJ has got one. Anyone know any paparazzi? Or know the answer?
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