Has the ScotRail smoking ban changed?

[Butts]

I thought the only station one could smoke on was Fishguard

Smoking not permitted anywhere else - even on open areas. Reported a smoker on the open platform area at Leeds on Saturday to station staff

Did the staff member do anything about it ?

How could you bubble someone like that ?
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That's my understanding too - the bylaw was amended at the franchise change date.

It's worth remembering that Scotland's general smoke free legislation came into force on 26 March 2006, where England and Wales was 01 July 2007. I guess this meant ScotRail had to take a view before the majority of the network did - and the amendment reflects bringing the SR franchise in line with almost all of the rest of the network.

ScotRail have though, said that they won't enforce the ban until the signage has all been updated. Given that the franchise change date was April 2015, I was disappointed to see this was still the case in December 2015 - even more so that ScotRail staff would blatantly ignore the rules too as late as December!

Wales was actually 2nd April 2007
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They still dont seem keen on enforcing it. Often see pax smoking on platforms - usually right next to the sign saying its banned!

Only BTP can enforce it - try finding one anywhere outside of a metropolitan area.
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It's a pain and should be repealed on open platforms. The unintended result has been an increase in people chancing smoking in the train bogs instead.

Totally agree - it would be interesting to know Merseyrails reason for "bucking the trend"
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I'd agree, but the smoking in toilets thing isn't reason enough to change the rule. I admit to regularly breaching the rule by smoking on open platforms, but not if there's another person on the same platform as I don't wish to make others feel unpleasant. Certainly the Scotrail thing seems odd, as I'd thought that the reason the rules were different was because of the sleeper.

So if you were hundreds of yards away (as you can be on some stations) would you still refrain ?
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Indeed, and most places now levy a VERY substantial (£150 is common) cleaning fee where the ban is broken...

Which is unenforceable in law as it is disproportionate to the actual cost of remedying the situation. Anyone with half a brain turns the shower on has a smoke in the bathroom and applies liberal quantities of deodrant / air freshner afterwards.
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Report them to customer services.

Gazooks a weegie grass

 

[IanXC]

Wales was actually 2nd April 2007

Very good point! I had completely forgotten this is a devolved matter for Wales!

 

[JohnR]

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Only BTP can enforce it - try finding one anywhere outside of a metropolitan area.
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This was at Dundee, where the No Smoking sign and the passengers who flout it are right next to the BTP office.

 

[Butts]

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Only BTP can enforce it - try finding one anywhere outside of a metropolitan area.
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This was at Dundee, where the No Smoking sign and the passengers who flout it are right next to the BTP office.

But was there anyone "at home"

Dundee is a prime example of a Station where there are plenty of open air platforms that could be allocated to smokers.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Which is unenforceable in law as it is disproportionate to the actual cost of remedying the situation.

It's not. To get rid of the smell of a smoker who just smokes in the room (or does what you suggest but opens the bathroom door too early), you have to wash *all* fabrics and sometimes even replace the mattress etc.

If you're a smoker you can't appreciate how unpleasant even a hint of the smell is to a non-smoker.

FWIW, I am not anti-smoking in itself, I'm fine with people smoking in their own home etc, that is their choice, and outside. And you can vape all you like, as that doesn't stink. But I would object to a hotel room where I could smell it at all, particularly if that was a room billed as a non-smoking room. FWIW, I would invoke Premier Inn's "Good Night Guarantee" thus not paying for the night unless I was given another room in which smoking had not evidently occurred, so that's another cost for them.

 

[Butts]

It's not. To get rid of the smell of a smoker who just smokes in the room (or does what you suggest but opens the bathroom door too early), you have to wash *all* fabrics and sometimes even replace the mattress etc.

If you're a smoker you can't appreciate how unpleasant even a hint of the smell is to a non-smoker.

FWIW, I am not anti-smoking in itself, I'm fine with people smoking in their own home etc, that is their choice, and outside. And you can vape all you like, as that doesn't stink. But I would object to a hotel room where I could smell it at all, particularly if that was a room billed as a non-smoking room. FWIW, I would invoke Premier Inn's "Good Night Guarantee" thus not paying for the night unless I was given another room in which smoking had not evidently occurred, so that's another cost for them.

I can see you are not an expert in the art of "smoke cloaking" - if the shower is on full tilt with steam belching out it does not matter if you smoke with the door open

The answer to the Rooms would be to have dedicated chambers for smokers only - not likely I concur.

That 100% guarantee got me many free nights when the kids were small. They never used to supply bathsheets in those days and were unable to supply one on request - full refund no problems

 

[Bletchleyite]

I can see you are not an expert in the art of "smoke cloaking" - if the shower is on full tilt with steam belching out it does not matter if you smoke with the door open

In that case you wouldn't get caught anyway

The answer to the Rooms would be to have dedicated chambers for smokers only - not likely I concur.

Used to be the case, but there is increasingly little demand for it. I think that's a culture shift among smokers - I have friends who smoke but never do so inside their house, for instance. It's a bit like the train smoking carriage in its latter years tended to be a temporary location - go there, have a smoke, go back. Though that did make it a useful way to near guarantee a seat if you could put up with it, and the atmosphere was often rather pub-like.

That 100% guarantee got me many free nights when the kids were small. They never used to supply bathsheets in those days and were unable to supply one on request - full refund no problems

 

[thenorthern]

With smoking I think its BTP who hand out the fines although most people caught smoking will stop if instructed to do so by railway staff.

Back to GNER I remember when they refurbished the Inter-City 225 trains they had included a specially refurbished smokers coach but the ban in Scotland meant it was never used as given GNER's position it would have meant having to ask people to stub out at Berwick-upon-Tweed. Had they been allowed to though I think GNER would have kept smoking as long as they could. At the time GNER did look silly having spend a lot of money on something that they were never going to use.

 

[Mordac]

With smoking I think its BTP who hand out the fines although most people caught smoking will stop if instructed to do so by railway staff.

Back to GNER I remember when they refurbished the Inter-City 225 trains they had included a specially refurbished smokers coach but the ban in Scotland meant it was never used as given GNER's position it would have meant having to ask people to stub out at Berwick-upon-Tweed. Had they been allowed to though I think GNER would have kept smoking as long as they could. At the time GNER did look silly having spend a lot of money on something that they were never going to use.

Couldn't they use it on the Leeds and Newcastle services?

 

[thenorthern]

Couldn't they use it on the Leeds and Newcastle services?

Someone tried that

Sunday Mail November 21, 2004, Sunday

MP'S PARLY HUFF AND PUFF

AN English Labour MP has launched an astonishing attack on the Scottish parliament over the smoking ban.

Train operators GNER are to withdraw smoking on their main east coast line because it is impratical to have a ban on half their service linking London to Edinburgh.

But the move infuriated Doncaster Labour MP and smoker Kevin Hughes. He said: 'There is no way we should allow a tin-pot parish council to decide what we should or shouldn't do in England.'

Scots Labour MP John Robertson said of Hughes' attack: 'It's not very intelligent. It says more about the person who made the comment.'