Rolling Stone under fire update
8/29/06
RHIANNON EDWARD
RHIANNON EDWARD
KEITH Richards, the Rolling Stones guitarist, will not be fined for breaching Scotland’s smoking ban, it has emerged.
Claims that he broke the law by puffing on a cigarette while performing at Hampden Park were made to Glasgow City Council, but environmental officers said yesterday the stage at the stadium is not an enclosed public place, as defined in the ban. The Stones played at the venue on Friday on their Bigger Bang European tour.
The new law aims to reduce the health damage caused by second-hand tobacco smoke.
The actor Mel Smith was prevented from lighting a cigar as part of a theatre show in Edinburgh last month. The comedian, who played Winston Churchill in a Fringe production, had threatened to ignore the law and light up during the performance.
The ban on smoking in all public places came into effect in Scotland on 26 March. Under the legislation, anyone smoking in enclosed spaces, including theatres, sports venues and bus shelters, faces a £50 fine. The manager of any premises who allows others to smoke there can be fined £200.
Meanwhile, it emerged yesterday that scores of drivers have been fined for flouting the smoking ban. Renfrewshire Council has netted nearly 50 taxi, bus and delivery drivers.
A Renfrewshire Council spokesman said: “We are simply enforcing the law. Only one of the acts has not taken place in a vehicle, so this is obviously not a problem confined to this area.”
Glasgow City Council has issued only four fixed penalty notices in the same period. In East Renfrewshire, only one fine has been issued and none have been given out in North or South Lanarkshire.
Richards Didn’t Violate Smoking Ban
08.28.2006
Keith Richards won’t be fined for reportedly lighting up during a Rolling Stones concert in Scotland.
The stage at Hampden Park, where the band performed Friday night on their “A Bigger Bang” tour, is exempt from a new law that bans smoking in enclosed public places, the Glasgow City Council said Monday.
Violators of the new law, which took effect in March, can be fined up to $95. The ban includes theaters and sports venues.
Richards’ publicists at LD Communications in London did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
The City Council said it had heard from journalists that the 62-year-old guitarist was smoking during the performance, but it wasn’t known whether the journalists had been at the concert.
ROLL-UP STONE IS CLEARED
Keith won’t face cig fine
Aug 28 2006
By Steven Ventura
ROCKER Keith Richards won’t be hit with a £50 fine for smoking a cigarette on stage at Hampden Park.
The Rolling Stones great lit up during the concert last Friday in front of 50,000 fans, in apparent defiance of Scotland’s smoking ban.
But while council chiefs are investigating, the Record can reveal that outdoor sections of the stadium are NOT covered by the ban.
And Hampden’s owners, who have their own smoking ban, won’t be taking any action.
At the weekend, anti-smoking groups demanded that guitarist Richards, who has twice been charged with drugs offences, face a fine.
But an Executive spokesman said last night: “Football grounds are not governed by the law because they are not regarded as enclosed spaces.”
Hampden bosses made the stadium a smoke-free zone in January. Fans flouting the rule face ejection if they refuse to stub out.
But it’s understood the stadium’s chiefs have no interest in taking the Richards case further.
Smokers’ rights group FOREST Scotland said the decision saved the nation from more embarrassment caused by the anti-smoke laws.
Spokesman Neil Rafferty said: “It’s a relief that Scotland won’t be humiliated yet again.
“Keith Richards could have obviously afforded the £50, had he broken the rules. But thousands of Scots can’t risk being hit with the penalty.
“The smoke ban has already been demonstrated as a farce after actor Mel Smith was affected as he portrayed Churchill at the Edinburgh Festival.
“These episodes continue to make Scotland look stupid.”
Rolling Stone under fire for lighting up onstage in Scotland
8/28/06
The Rolling Stones may be hit with a fine under Scotland’s strict anti-smoking rules. Guitarist Keith Richards, who is notorious for his drug use and smoking, smoked a cigarette onstage during the band’s A Bigger Bang concert at Glasgow’s Hampden Park on Friday, allegedly violating a smoking ban in public places. Hampden Park has also come under fire for allowing the guitarist to smoke, even though it itself has a smoking ban. About 50,000 fans were present at the concert.
If found guilty, Richards will have to shell out US$94 and Hampden Park would face a fine of US$480. Investigations into the matter, however, are on. “This has been brought to our attention and we will look into it. Glasgow City Council takes its responsibility for enforcing the smoking ban very seriously,” a spokesperson for the Glasgow City Council said. It is not clear if the development follows an official complaint against the guitarist and the park. The ban, which came into effect in March, prohibits smoking in enclosed public places like theaters, sports arenas and even parks. Violations attract a fine of up to 50 pounds.
Freedom Organization for the Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco spokesperson Neil Rafferty slammed the incident as ‘another way in which the smoking ban makes Scotland look ridiculous’. Earlier, in Edinburgh, actor Mel Smith was prohibited from smoking a cigar onstage during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The actor was playing Winston Churchill in a theatre production Allegiance. “A few weeks ago we had Mel Smith being forced to compromise his portrayal of Winston Churchill under a threat of the whole venue being closed down, and now we have Scotland’s national stadium Hampden Park under investigation for spurious reasons,” Rafferty said.
But Action on Smoking and Health Scotland, an anti-smoking outfit, welcomed the investigations. “The law in Scotland says where you can and cannot smoke and it’s been brought in to protect workers and the public from a Class A carcinogen – passive smoking. And if he has been breaking the law then he has to pay the penalty like anyone else,” said spokesperson Maureen Moore. The incident comes close on the heels of a cartoon channel being told to axe the smoking sequences in Tom and Jerry cartoons.
Sixty-year-old Richards is recuperating after a surgery for a head injury he suffered while holidaying in Fiji. The sexagenarian rocker is known for his drug abuse and arrests for possession of narcotics. He was once arrested for heroin and cocaine possession, an incident that threatened to finish his spectacular career as a musician. Richards sports a bracelet to remind him of the incident whenever he feels tempted to reach out for narcotics.
Stone rolls into smoking ban row
27 August 2006
The council is to investigate whether Keith Richards smoked on stage.
Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards may have flouted Scotland’s smoking ban when he played to thousands of fans at Glasgow’s Hampden Park.
The city council confirmed it was investigating reports that he smoked on stage throughout the gig on Friday.
The veteran rocker could face a £50 fine and Hampden Park could also face a £250 penalty if officials prove the venue failed to enforce the ban.
The rock ‘n’ roll legends are on the UK leg of their A Bigger Bang world tour.
A ban on smoking in all public places came into effect in Scotland on 26 March this year.
Hampden Park had introduced its own smoking ban three months before the nationwide ban was introduced.
At the beginning of this month, actor Mel Smith was warned not to smoke during his performance of Churchill in the play Allegiance at the Edinburgh Fringe festival.
“If he has been breaking the law then he has to pay the penalty like anyone else ” said Maureen Moore Ash Scotland
Edinburgh City Council had said that the Assembly Rooms would be shut down if the law was broken.
Neil Rafferty, from the Freedom Organisation for the Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco (Forest), said: “This is yet another way in which the smoking ban makes Scotland look ridiculous.
“A few weeks ago we had Mel Smith being forced to compromise his portrayal of Winston Churchill under a threat of the whole venue being closed down, and now we have Scotland’s national stadium Hampden Park under investigation for spurious reasons.”
However, the anti-tobacco organisation Action on Smoking and Health (Ash) Scotland said celebrities should not be above the law.
Chief executive Maureen Moore said: “The law in Scotland says where you can and cannot smoke and it’s been brought in to protect workers and the public from a Class A carcinogen – passive smoking.
“And if he has been breaking the law then he has to pay the penalty like anyone else.”
Keith Richards may have violated Scotland’s smoking ban
26 August 2006
GLASGOW, Scotland Keith Richards may be in trouble for smoking — tobacco.
Journalists told officials in Glasgow, Scotland, that the Rolling Stones’ guitarist lit up while performing. A city council spokesman says it could be a violation of the ban on smoking in enclosed venues. Violators face fines of up to 95 dollars.
Richards’ publicists could not be reached for comment today.
The Stones are on a world tour.
In the Scottish capital, Edinburgh, officials warned during the city’s Fringe Festival earlier this month that they’d close down a theater if an actor lit a cigar during his portrayal of Winston Churchill.
The actor eventually agreed to keep the cigar unlit.
No ban in Switzerland for the Rolling Stones. Ron Wood and Keith Richards, for whom a smoking ban in the hangar has also been temporarily lifted.
