Hitler is alive and well
July 22, 2015
Coincidentally, I was sent two different articles both on the same subject.
The first was “Antrim man fined for smoking in tractor” [thanks, Ian].
The second was “Tractor cigarette could cost farmer £1k” [thanks, Ipse Cogita!]
So here we have a bloke sitting in his tractor minding his own business and enjoying a fag when along comes a Brownshirt and slaps a fine on him for smoking.
We will ignore the fact that [as far as I am aware] most if not all tractors are single person vehicles. We will ignore the fact that if he was parked at the side of the road and therefore technically he wasn’t using it for business purposes. We will ignore the fact that £1,000 is grossly disproportionate as a fine. We will ignore the fact that this “crime” was harming precisely no one.
What we can’t ignore is the depths to which this whole Anti-Smoker purge has sunk.
A cash strapped council which can’t afford to cut back roadside hedges is able to afford a “tobacco control officer” [or more than one?] who is presumably being paid at least the minimum wage. The whole concept of a “tobacco control officer” is wrong ? a person employed on a full time basis to go around snooping on people to see if they are enjoying a surreptitious fag?
Can anyone give me one good reason why I shouldn’t compare the Anti-Smoker campaign with the early days of Hitler’s campaign against the Jews?
In each case, a political ideology achieved almost religious like fervour and hatred. In each case there is no basis for this hatred. In each case the public are actively encouraged to vilify and demonise the minority. In each case the public are encouraged to spy on their neighbour and report them to the “authorities” in the event of some imaginary transgression. In each case the government passes tighter and tighter restrictions in order to eradicate this imagined evil and employs spies to ensure that the minority group toes the line, and applies disproportionate punishment in the event of a transgression. Children are being indoctrinated into an ideology before they are mature enough to make their own judgements.
Just one good reason?
Anyone?
Antrim man fined for smoking in tractor
21 July 2015
By Peter McCann
An agricultural contractor in Co Antrim is facing a potential fine of £1,000 after a worker was caught smoking in a tractor by a council official.
Antrim and Newtownabbey Council has claimed that a “tobacco control officer” observed the driver of the vehicle in breach of the Northern Ireland Smoking Order (2006).
The tractor is being treated as “a commercial vehicle capable of carrying more than one person.”
Under the smoking in the workplace regulations, it is only permissible to smoke in vehicles that are primarily used for private purposes. There is a fixed penalty of £50 for the person in breach of regulations, which can be reduced to £30 if paid in 15 days.
The contractor who owns the tractor has been ordered to give the council the name of the person who was smoking or face or a maximum fine of £1,000 if prosecuted and convicted by a court.
The notice from the council was given to the contractor, stating the tractor registration, the time and location of the incident and a warning of potential consequences. A two page form for details of the driver, the tractor and its tax status was also included for completion.
Ulster Farmers Union deputy president Barclay Bell described the incident as taking the regulations to extreme lengths and an example of excess red tape for farmers. He also questioned the council?s use of resources on this issue, given recent announcements of cut backs on cutting hedges and verges on rural roads.
“Regardless of where you stand on smoking, in tough financial times it is justifiable to ask whether this is the best possible use of time and money,” he said.
Tractor cigarette could cost farmer £1k
22 July, 2015
CLAIRE SIMPSON
A FARMER who smoked in his tractor could face a fine of up to £1,000.
The tractor was parked by the side of a road in Co Antrim when a tobacco control officer told the farmer he was in breach of smoking regulations and issued him with a notice.
The tractor was deemed to be a commercial vehicle capable of “carrying more than one person”.
People caught smoking in a work vehicle in the north can be handed a fixed penalty notice of £50 or a fine of up to £1,000 if prosecuted.
The Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) said the owner of the tractor has been ordered by Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council, which issued the notice, to give the name of the person smoking – or face a fine.
The council said it is still investigating the case, but added that a tractor “is classed as a work vehicle”.
Barclay Bell, deputy president of the Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU), told the BBC the case was “bizarre”.
“At one level this is a bizarre and even funny example of excessive red tape, defining a tractor as capable of carrying more than one person,” he said.
He added: “Regardless of where you stand on smoking, in tough financial times it is justifiable to ask whether this is the best possible use of time and money?”
