Legalities or otherwise of smoking on railway premises: spin-off from "Quiet Zone" topic.

[whole diary]

[IndustryInsider]

I wonder, given all the discussion on this thread about the exact meaning of the law, how many people have actually been prosecuted for smoking on an open railway station platform since the ban?  Mind you, I have on a couple of occasions seen staff get embarrassingly over-zealous with some individuals who have been caught doing so. 

It's open to huge misuse, as it's ridiculous to try and enforce a no smoking policy on an isolated windswept platform at, say, Combe.  It's also illogical when you have to fight your way past hoards of smokers at Paddington at the bottom of the Praed Street entrance who are quite legitimately smoking!

[basset44]

Hi All,

I am a smoker and once or twice I have been caught having a smoke at the far end of platforms way out of peoples way when I have to catch connecting trains but have not the time to leave a mess about trying to get out of the station through the gates trying to find somebody to explain that I am going out for a smoke and trying to get back in.

This has cost me a taxi fare to the next station once when platform security at a station late at night not FGW^▸ (First Great Western) and I was told to leave the station and would be refused entry again.

All this just puts me of travelling, one thing they do better in Europe is provide smoking areas on Platforms and in the airports, what we seem to do in this country is just make it awkward, unless of course you are an MP^▸ (Member of Parliament, or Mile Post (a method of measuring the railway in miles and chains from a starting point - usually London), depending on context) who ignores the law.

Basset

[Lee]

Hi All,

I am a smoker and once or twice I have been caught having a smoke at the far end of platforms way out of peoples way when I have to catch connecting trains but have not the time to leave a mess about trying to get out of the station through the gates trying to find somebody to explain that I am going out for a smoke and trying to get back in.

This has cost me a taxi fare to the next station once when platform security at a station late at night not FGW^▸ (First Great Western) and I was told to leave the station and would be refused entry again.

All this just puts me of travelling, one thing they do better in Europe is provide smoking areas on Platforms and in the airports, what we seem to do in this country is just make it awkward, unless of course you are an MP^▸ (Member of Parliament, or Mile Post (a method of measuring the railway in miles and chains from a starting point - usually London), depending on context) who ignores the law.

Basset

Two middle-aged ladies smoking on the platform bench at Lelant Saltings this afternoon...

[readytostart]

In England and Wales, it is illegal to smoke anywhere on the station, whether it is inside a building, or on an open platform.

In Scotland, the same applies, expect that it is LEGAL to smoke on the platform if is not covered.

With the exception of the two Network Rail managed stations; Edinburgh Waverley and Glasgow Central where the enclosed areas are covered under the Smoking, Health and Social Care (Scotland) Act 2005 and open areas under Railway Byelaw 3, the signs displaying the appropriate legislation for different parts of the stations.