Location: UK England Topic: Ban Damage Page 4

Smoking ban blamed for rise in fires
29 January 2010
By Joe Robinson
RUBBISH fires are rocketing due to the smoking ban ? leaving Blackpool tax payers footing a massive bill.
The warning comes as shock statistics reveal accidental rubbish fires in Blackpool cost almost £620,000 in fire service call outs last year.
Fire chiefs, who said discarded rubbish may have played a role in the massive fire which destroyed Yates’s Wine Lodge, today put the problem down to the smoking ban and an inadequate number of ashtrays.
Many of the fires are starting in bins with smouldering cigarettes, not properly put out by smokers, sparking three fires in the last week alone.
Others are being ignited by homeless people trying to keep warm during the freezing winter period.
Troublemakers have also set deliberate fires using fly-tipped waste, police chiefs said.
Glenn Simpson, Lancashire Fire and Rescue’s community fire safety worker, said: “There is large problem in that members of the public, who have to smoke outside due to the smoking ban, are faced with a problem.
“If they throw their cigarettes on the ground they could face a fine for littering.
“Then again if they don’t put them out properly and they go in the bin, they can smoulder for hours before a fire starts.
“It’s a huge waste of time for the fire service and it costs money for the taxpayer.”
Mr Simpson said the Government’s estimated average cost of a fire call out is around £1,800.
That includes the time officers spend at the scene, calling in support crews to back them up, the cost of support staff and the potential cost of a subsequent probe.
Troublemakers have also set deliberate fires using fly-tipped waste, police chiefs said.
Smoulder
Glenn Simpson, Lancashire Fire and Rescue?s community fire safety worker, said: “There is large problem in that members of the public, who have to smoke outside due to the smoking ban, are faced with a problem.
“If they throw their cigarettes on the ground they could face a fine for littering.”
“Then again if they don?t put them out properly and they go in the bin, they can smoulder for hours before a fire starts.”
“It?s a huge waste of time for the fire service and it costs money for the taxpayer.”
Mr Simpson said the Government?s estimated average cost of a fire call out is around £1,800.
That includes the time officers spend at the scene, calling in support crews to back them up, the cost of support staff and the potential cost of a subsequent probe.
With Blackpool, Bispham and South Shore fire station officers called to 287 rubbish fires in the last 10 months, it works out at a startling cost of around £620,000 over a 12-month period.
Coun Ian Fowler, Blackpool Council?s cabinet member for business services, said cigarettes, in particular, were an issue.
“It?s a major problem,” he said.
“The new bins in the town centre do have an ashtray on top of them which should help but we still have a long way to go.”
Danger
The authorities are now keen to avert danger and bring that figure down by tackling the cause ? discarded rubbish and cigarettes.
So police, fire safety experts and councillors have launched Operation Ablaze, a clean-up programme aimed at cleaning up discarded rubbish left lying around.
Coun Fowler added that tackling discarded rubbish would save money and cut down fire danger.
“It?s all about educating people to avert danger and prevent fire service time being wasted.
“Blackpool Council officers are able to issue fines of £300 to people they believe to be fly-tipping or not disposing of waste properly.”
Operation Ablaze will see council cleaners target waste dumped in alleyways and paths with police officers working as their eyes and ears and reporting complaints.
The scheme begins in Talbot ward which covers much of the town centre but could be rolled out across the town.
PC Mark Mottashed, community beat manager for Blackpool town centre, said one of the main problems officers had faced this winter was rubbish fires started by vagrants.
“There is traditionally an increase of fires during the winter months as vagrants light fires to keep warm,” he said.
A number of huge fires have erupted in the last year in Blackpool with iconic buildings like Yates?s Wine Lodge and The Grand Hotel razed to the ground.
A number of other sites, including an under-construction block of flats on Talbot Road, have also been devastated.
On Monday The Dutton Arms pub became the latest high profile building to be set alight. http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/blackpoolnews/Smoking-ban-blamed-for-rise.6024840.jp?articlepage=2

Commuter Linda Buchanan pushed onto railway track after smoking row
2/23/10
A WOMAN was pushed onto a railway track after telling someone off for smoking, a court was told.
Linda Buchanan was waiting for her morning train to London when she caught carptenter Ionel Rapisca lighting up a cigarette.
She warned him against smoking, telling him she did not "like the smell of cancer", The Daily Mail reported.
The next morning, on August 6 last year, she saw Mr Rapisca again at Farningham Road station in Kent.
Mr Rapisca, 33, from Romania, walked towards her, made a farting noise and then gave her a push, causing her to fall onto the track near a 750 volt line, Maidstone Crown Court was told.
Prosecutor John O’Higgins told the court that Mr Raspica pulled the 59-year-old management consultant back onto the platform.
"It’s all very well to push somebody if it’s on a level piece of land, but it’s quite different, you may think, when you are next to a live railway line in the rush-hour," he said.
He added that the station was on the commuter line into London, with some trains travelling through at 144km/h.
Mr Rapisca denies grievous bodily harm with intent and two alternative charges of GBH and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
http://www.news.com.au/world/commuter-linda-buchanan-pushed-onto-railway-track-after-smoking-row/story-e6frfkyi-1225833620819?from=public_rss

Boy, 14, collapses after chewing nicotine gum equivalent to 180 cigarettes in just 25 minutes… handed out at school

20th July 2009
By Daily Mail Reporter

A boy of 14 collapsed after chewing 45 sticks of nicotine gum – equivalent to 180 Marlboro Light cigarettes – in just 25 minutes.

Aiden Williams overdosed on the Nicorette gum, designed to help smokers quit the habit, after it was handed out by counsellors at his school.

The teenager’s mother today hit out at the school, which allows children as young as 12 to be given up to a week’s supply – 105 pieces – without parental consent.

Each stick of Nicorette gum contained 2mg of nicotine – the equivalent of four Marlboro Light cigarettes, which each have 0.5mg.

Aiden chewed his way through 45 sticks – a total of 90mg – meaning he had the equivalent of 180 Marlboro Lights in just 25 minutes.

His mother Caroline Williams said today: ‘I couldn’t believe that this gum can be given out like this without parents knowing. It is then being passed around the playground.

‘The doctors said that he could have died and he had to be kept in for 24 hours for observation.

‘I know what my son did was stupid, but if anything it proves that these kids can’t be given responsibility for taking medication that could do serious harm.’

Aiden, a pupil at Menzies High School Science College in West Bromwich, West Midlands, said he was given the gum by a classmate who had allegedly been caught smoking.

Workers from Sandwell Council’s Drug Education, Counselling and Confidential Advice (Decca) had been into school that morning to do an assessment on the classmate in question.

Aiden was rushed to Sandwell General Hospital with stomach pains after he collapsed in the playground at lunchtime.

He admitted having eaten 45 pieces of the gum in less than an hour and was kept in overnight for observations and allowed home the following afternoon.

Paul Harris, deputy head at Menzies School, said: ‘We have older teens in school who have issues with smoking and work directly with Decca, which offers support.

‘This is low-strength nicotine gum and there is nothing stopping youngsters from the age of 12 buying it over the counter.

‘Decca does not have to inform pupils’ parents about this.’

DECCA Service manager Margaret Storrie defended the council’s policy of handing out Nicorette gum to children without telling parents.

She said: ‘DECCA is a confidential service engaging with young people and we do offer nicotine replacement gum to help young smokers quit.

‘We always encourage young people to speak to their parents and we often organise meetings with family members so young people get the support they need.

‘Aiden overdosing on gum like this is the first time such an incident has happened and we are disappointed to hear about it.

‘Aiden’s friend who was originally given the gum would have been told very clearly how often to use it by the worker who gave it to him.

‘We always make sure clients understand not to give out their gum to anyone else.

‘We will investigate the incident and will continue to ensure that young people know about the dangers of giving the gum to others as well as the correct dosage.’
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1200918/Boy-14-collapses-overdosing-nicotine-chewing-gum-handed-school.html

Cadet Stabbing: Police Study CCTV
October 23, 2008
Detectives are studying CCTV footage of a gang suspected to be involved in the stabbing of a 16-year-old Army cadet. Officers hope to establish the gang’s route to and from the scene where Joseph Lappin was murdered outside a youth club in Liverpool.
Four suspects are being held in police custody.
Joseph’s mother Toni, 44, and father John, 45, left flowers with individual notes outside the club.
One of the cards said: "Joseph. The good die young, and we know you were one of the best, sleep tight son. Love forever Mum x."
The other said: "To my beautiful son Joseph. Words cannot express how I feel. Love you always Dad x."
More than 20 bunches of flowers, some with notes attached, photos of Joseph and a cuddly toy dog were left by well-wishers, friends and family.
It was Joseph’s first visit to Shrewsbury House Youth Club in Everton where he had gone to support a friend who was performing.
At around 8.40pm on Monday, he and two friends went outside the club so one could have a cigarette.
They were approached by a gang of youths who allegedly began abusing them.
After a short chase, the boys tried to make their way back into the safety of the youth club but Joseph and one of his friends were stabbed near the entrance.
Joseph, of Old Swan, Liverpool, was knifed in the heart and another boy who was stabbed has been described by police as "incredibly lucky" to have survived.
A police spokesman said two boys aged 14 and 15 and a 20-year-old man from Vauxhall were arrested, along with a 19-year-old man from Kirkdale.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20081023/tuk-cadet-stabbing-police-study-cctv-45dbed5.html

Pub managers fined for flouting smoke ban
By Ewan Turney
August 12, 2008
A licensee couple have been fined for flouting the smoking ban after police checked CCTV footage at the pub.
Marjorie Hogg of the Netherfield Tavern in Milton Keynes was fined £800 for failing to stop a customer smoking while husband Peter was fined £100 for smoking in the pub. The pair were ordered to pay £900 costs between them.
Warnings had been issued to the licensees in October and November last year after enforcement officers found customers smoking in the function room.
Police reported on 11 March that smoking was continuing at the pub and CCTV footage taken from the bar area proved their case.
"This is the first prosecution of this type that we have had to bring in Milton Keynes, and we hope it sends a clear message to all employers," council community protection manager Phil Winsor told Milton Keynes News.
"The brewery made it very clear that it is up to each individual bar manager to ensure no breach of the legislation, and on this occasion it was blatantly ignored."
http://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/news.ma/article/80381

Woman Thrown on Live Commuter Rail After Telling Kids to Stop Smoking
August 06, 2008
A British commuter was thrown on to a railway line after she told two youths to stop smoking on a station platform on Wednesday.
The woman, whose identity is not known, suffered burns and a suspected broken collar bone and was taken to the hospital after the incident, at Farningham Road station in Kent during the rush hour shortly after 7a.m.
South Eastern train services between Kent and London were disrupted because the power had to be turned off.
The woman had asked the youths to stop smoking on the station platform, where smoking is banned, the train company said.
A scuffle started and she was thrown on to the track before fellow passengers dragged her off.
British Transport Police, who are studying CCTV footage of the incident and were said to be following up a number of leads, said the woman was lucky to be alive because the “live” rail was carrying 750 volts of electricity.
A South Eastern spokesman said: “We are appalled by this incident and hope the perpetrators are quickly identified.”
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,398493,00.html

Customers told they can’t smoke on pub doorstep
July 22, 2008
Smokers have become the first in the West to be banned from lighting up outside their local pub after neighbours complained about them making a noise.
Next-door neighbour Janet Roberts says she is fed up of people gathering outside the Horse and Jockey since the smoking ban came into force.
So councillors have told the landlords they must refuse to serve anyone caught smoking on the street outside the Ross-on-Wye pub.
The decision has split residents on the street and sent shockwaves through the industry, which has blamed the smoking ban for already leading to many closures.
"I’ve never heard of this before and I don’t even know if it’s legal," said a spokes man for the British Pub and Beer Association.
"Bradford tried to bring in a blanket ban on people smoking outside pubs but it was found to be illegal, unworkable and an infringement of human rights."
Mrs Roberts lives in a cottage next door to the historic pub and asked the council’s regulatory committee to take away its licence in May.
She told councillors a voluntary agreement to keep the noise down inside the pub had broken down and urged them to force the owners to soundproof the premises so she could not hear the noise of customers or music through the shared wall.
But she also told the council that smokers congregating in the street and in the beer garden in the back of the pub were causing an increasing nuisance by yelling, swearing and shrieking. She claims requests to tone down the noise are met with abuse and asked councilors to ban people drinking and smoking in the pub doorway and on the pavement outside.
Three local residents supported her call for the licence to be revoked but five others wrote in to support the pub, which opens until 11pm during the week and midnight at weekends.
Herefordshire council’s regulatory sub-committee refused to remove the licence held by Punch Taverns plc, which has around 8,000 pubs in the UK, and urged both sides to sit around the table with trained mediators to resolve their differences.
But it agreed to vary the conditions and said the pub must put up a sign on the doors and windows reading: "Customers must not smoke on the street outside these premises. Any person failing to observe this condition will be refused further service at the bar upon re-entry."
Yesterday, Mrs Roberts and landlady Janis Harmer both refused to comment and Punch Taverns said it was a matter for the landlord.
A BPBA spokesman said: "Nationally we have not seen an increase in these kind of disputes since the smoking ban, but there have been isolated cases.
"These difficulties are usually overcome without this kind of action."
A spokesman for Punch Taverns said: "At no point has the Horse and Jockey prevented customers from smoking outside the pub.
"However, following a premise licence review, smoking will only be permitted in the garden to the rear of the property and not in front of the pub.
"Customers who leave the pub via the front door to have a cigarette will not be allowed re-entry."
http://www.westbusiness.co.uk/News/Bristol/Customers-told-they-can-t-smoke-on-pub-doorstep.aspx

The smoking ban: what a drag it is having a smoke

01/07/2008

One year on, bingo halls, pubs and working men’s clubs are counting the cost of the smoking ban, finds Adam Edwards

When Mick Jagger’s granddaughter, the privately educated 15-year-old Assisi, was caught smoking a cigarette it was not so much the act of smoking that marked her out as a chip off the old Stone block, rather that the stogie was a roll-up.

The hand-rolled ciggie, once the preserve of the builder and the bum, has now become fashionable thanks to the legislation, introduced in England a year ago today, banning smoking in public places. It has turned the "rolley" into a recherché accessory.

"It is easier to have a swift smoke with a roll-up," explained eventer Melody Keegan, as she took a drag on her skinny splinter of tobacco outside the drinks tent at the Badminton Horse Trials in May. "And it is cheaper because you are not throwing away a tailor-made cigarette after a couple of puffs."

It may be unfashionable to say so, but the new craze for smoking roll-up cigarettes (and Imperial Tobacco, which owns Rizla cigarette papers, says it is a rapidly growing market here) is one of the few silver linings for the industry in the tobacco-ban cloud.

Pubs, clubs, bars, cafes and bingo halls are all suffering from the legislation.

Yesterday, a study by Cancer Research UK claimed that 400,000 people had quit smoking since the introduction of the ban and estimated 40,000 lives will be saved over the next decade. "These figures show the largest fall in the number of smokers on record," said Robert West, director of tobacco studies at the Health Behaviour Research Unit at University College London. "The effect has been as large in all social groups – poor, as well as rich. I never expected such a dramatic impact."

Health experts may be celebrating but publicans have been gasping. The Campaign For Real Ale
(Camra) has reported that over 50 pubs close every month, with one of the main reasons being the smoking ban.

The secretary of the Licensed Victuallers’
Association in Wales was reported as saying that in six months there would hardly be a pub left in the valleys.

These predictions are backed up by grassroots opinion. Landlord Kevin Greenacre’s takings at the Crown Inn, at Gissing in Norfolk, have plummeted almost 20 per cent in the past year.
Furthermore, because the pub is a listed building the canvas smoking shelter he erected has been refused planning permission. "Without the shelter I can’t survive," he says. "The ban has been disastrous."

Elsewhere, 60 bingo halls have shut in the last
15 months, and more working men’s clubs have closed in the past year than in any previous year. "An awful lot are hanging on by their fingertips," says Ken Smythe, general secretary of the Working Men’s Club and Institute Union.
"The next six to nine months are likely to see a lot more go under. I fear the end of the working man’s club may be nigh."

Meanwhile, all levels of society have been affected. Sales of Havana cigars have dropped by
25 per cent since last July, while shisha bars, where fruit-scented tobacco is smoked using a Middle Eastern water pipe, have been badly hit.
"I have lost 60 per cent of my income," said Joseph Srure, of the Café du Liban, on London’s Edgware Road. "They used to queue to get in, now I am empty. Most of the shisha bars here have shut."

But there are attempts at a fight back. Smoking shelters are sprouting like weeds – and becoming more luxurious. The Hotel du Vin chain has built luxury cigar shacks with under-floor heating and blowers beneath the eaves to provide a wall of warm air. More importantly, the Campaign for Separate Smoking Rooms (CSSR) was launched last month. It plans a nationwide movement to get the ban revised, so that it allows smoking in properly ventilated, staff-free rooms in private clubs.

"We do not wish to reverse the smoking ban, but want sensible revisions to be made to it," says Ranald Macdonald, managing director of the London-based Scottish restaurant group Boisdale and a spokesman for the campaign. "The Government announced there would be a review of the smoking ban three years after it was introduced.

"This would mean a review in the summer of 2010.
Significantly, this could be the year of the next general election. We will be encouraging Labour MPs to deliver on their 2005 manifesto, which
stated: ‘In membership clubs, the members will be free to choose whether to allow smoking or be smoke-free’."

Despite the celebrations to mark the ban’s first year anniversary, the CSSR is convinced its campaign could be successful. Until that day, its most visible standard bearers are likely to be those well-bred gals like Melody and Assisi flaunting their roll-ups.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/portal/main.jhtml?xml=/portal/2008/07/01/ftsmoking101.xml

‘Bring back smoking’ campaign launched

18 June 2008
By Martin Steinmetz

Hundreds of pub-goers in Chorley have caused controversy for launching a campaign to scrap the smoking ban.

A petition with signatures from more than 400 revellers is making the rounds in pubs in the town to get the government to lift legislation brought in last year.

The protestors are pushing for a change in the law that would give licensees more power and create pubs exclusively for smokers and non-smokers .

The campaign comes just months after rebel landlord Nick Hogan, who runs the Swan with Two Necks on Hollinshead Street, was ordered to pay more than £10,000 after being found guilty of failing to step people from not smoking in his pub on four separate occasions.

Tom McLeod started the petition with a campaign group called the Tap Room Boys at his local pub, Trader Jacks, also on Hollinshead Street. It has visited dozens of premises in the town to rally round support.

Mr McLeod, 69, who has been smoking since he was 11, said: "I had a paper round and used to buy cigarettes for twopence and have smoked ever since.

"We used to have tap rooms where people could smoke, have a pint and play darts but the whole atmosphere in pubs has changed since last year.

"The smoking ban was like a big shock to a lot of people and I hope the petition will help to change things.

"It’s a long campaign and we have to keep it going to get a result – I want to take it to Westminster to get something done about not being allowed to smoke in pubs because it’s affecting people’s social life.

"It’s the tip of the iceberg and everyone I’ve spoken to is just fed up with the way this has been handled

"I’m a pensioner and many people don’t understand that it’s part of our enjoyment and we should have the right to choose what we want to do."

Last Orders landlady Kath Dunnington, 59, says business has slowed down significantly since the smoking ban was introduced last year.

She said: "It’s hit us hard because people used to come in for a pint and a smoke but now you have to stand outside in the cold.

"A lot of my customers are elderly and when the ban was introduced I’ve had to go up to an 80-year-old war veteran and tell him he can’t smoke in here.

"It would be wise to introduce pubs for smokers and non-smokers which would solve the problems with the smoking ban.

"People should have the freedom of choice and not be told by the government what they can and can’t do."

However the chances of the campaign being a success appear remote.

On July 1 England introduced a new law to make virtually all enclosed public places and workplaces in England smokefree in response to health fears about breathing in second-hand smoke.
http://www.chorley-guardian.co.uk/todays-news/39Bring-back-smoking39-campaign-launched.4195385.jp

Here at Museum of London, we have been following the change in habits of smoking and how it has evolved since the smoking ban.  We thought you may be interested in telling your readers about our display looking at the implications of the ban; from those that welcomed it, those that suffered as a result of it and the extra measures taken by others to deal with it.  It will also chart the history of smoking from the first introduction of tobacco to London to the present day, following changes in attitude over the centuries.

The Big Smoke  will be opening on the significant July 1, the anniversary of the smoking ban in London.  We welcome all opinions and think that yourself and your audience may be interested in coming along. I have attached a Press Release about this display and we have loads of fantastic images which are available on request.  Please let me know if you would like any further information and it would be really great if you could let your readers know.

For any further information please contact Stacey Witter   switter@museumoflondon.org.uk   and we look forward to seeing you there!
————————————————————–

From the first puff to the last gasp at Museum of London

Did you know that road traffic accidents inLondon kill less than 1 person each day, while smoking cigarettes kills 1 Londoner every hour? Or that cigarette butts account for 40% of the litter on London’s streets? Despite these bleak statistics 2 million Londoners regularly light up to enjoy a cigarette. One year on from the smoking ban, The Big Smoke looks at the history of smoking in London and life in the capital since the ban.

On 1 July 2007 smoking was banned in all public places throughout England. It was greatly debated, widely publicised and much opposed. The small display looks at the implications of the ban, from those that welcomed it, those that suffered as a result of it and the extra measures taken by others to deal with it. Don’t miss the tube containing one week’s worth of cigarette butts collected in the City of London from one square mile of stressed-out City workers.

From ornate smoking pipes to distinctive cigarette adverts, the display will use objects and images from the Museum of London ’s collections to chart the history of smoking from the first introduction of tobacco to London to the present day, following changes in attitude over the centuries. The Big Smoke will also showcase the varying opinions on the current smoking ban and show its effects on London , its businesses and people.

London was the centre of the tobacco trade from its first introduction to Britain in the mid 16th century. Walter Raleigh, the Elizabethan explorer, became a committed pipe-smoker and popularised the habit of smoking. By 1614 there were 7000 tobacconist’s shops in the London area, hitting the height of popularity in the 19^th century. From the 1880s machines were pumping out cigarettes at a rate of 300 per minute – tobacco companies used advertising to encourage mass consumption of this product and a national cigarette-smoking habit was born.

Pictures of glamorous film stars, Victorian gentlemen and smoky singers illustrate that smoking had become an integral part of everyday life; the government used cigarettes in public information campaigns, tiny toy cigarettes were made for doll’s houses and the House of Commons had their own brand of smokes.

Curator Meriel Jeater says, ‘London has been a centre of the tobacco trade and consumption for 400 years and this topical display will look at how attitudes to smoking have altered over this time. The recent ban on smoking in public places is causing widespread changes and this display will showcase Londoners’ opinions on the ban and how it is affecting their city. For some people the new legislation is the final prompt they needed to quit smoking. For others it is ruining their businesses. We want to know what Londoners think.’

Following the discovery that smoking was linked to diseases such as lung cancer it soon became clear that smoking was seriously bad for your health. Slowly attitudes towards smoking began to change and the display highlights an emergence of anti-smoking campaigns; from the health warnings on cigarette packets to the introduction of a smoking ban. A ban would certainly help protect the health of those around the smokers but would it help smokers break their habit?

The Big Smoke runs from 1 July to 21 September 2008 and is free.

Notes to editors

1.      For more information or images, please contact Stacey Witter on 020 7814 5511 or switter@museumoflondon.org.uk

2.      Museum of London is one of the largest urban museums in the world. It is currently redeveloping its lower galleries to retell the story of London and Londoners from 1666 to the present day. The £20.5 million project will revitalize the galleries and create a glass window overlooking London Wall. The new galleries will open in spring 2010 with significantly increased access to the Museum’s collections, both in the galleries and online, and will also include a new Clore Learning Centre, a theatre and The Sackler Hall containing an information and coffee point. Find out more about supporting this project at
www.museumoflondon.org.uk

3.      Throughout the redevelopment work, visitors will continue to be able to discover the city’s many incarnations in the London before London, Roman London, and Medieval London galleries, together with London‘s Burning, the Great Fire of London 1666, and a series of topical exhibitions.  A full programme of activities and events for all ages, bringing London‘s past and present to life, will continue.

May 13, 2008
Pub crisis: 27 close each week – Morning Advertiser
the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) has warned.
The stark figures from the BBPA reveal the pub closure rate is seven times faster than in 2006 and 14 times faster than in 2005.
In total, 1,409 pubs closed in 2007 ? a sharp acceleration when compared to 216 closures in 2006 and 102 in 2005.
– A Newsletter Reader

68% of landlords want end to smoking ban
Wednesday, 23 April 2008  

Freedom to Choose seeks to amend the smoking ban to allow freedom of choice
for businesses and their customers, in line with the majority of EU
countries, and to advance public education about smoking bans
www.freedom2choose.info r/>
ENDS

Notes to editors
1. The full survey report can be downloaded here:
http://www.freedom2choose.info/docs/tsgv1.pdf

2. BBPA report:
http://www.beerandpub.com/newsList_detail.aspx?newsId=235

3. Alan Johnson quotation:
http://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/news_detail.aspx?articleid=57809&categoryid=36

4. Morning Advertiser survey results:
http://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/news_detail.aspx?articleid=59396
http://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/news_detail.aspx?articleid=59284

 Read more:  UK Ban Damage Page 3