A non-smoking self-employed workman has been fined for not displaying a 'No Smoking' sign in his own van.
Trevor Emery, who runs a domestic appliance business, had to pay £150 which is £100 more than he would have been fined had he actually smoked in the vehicle.
According to Trevor he was unaware of the law, which is no defence of course, but the curious thing is that it took Kent's eagled-eyed wardens almost ten years to spot the 'offence'.
The story first appeared here but went national via The Sun, Daily Mail and others.
BBC South East News also ran the story last night. They wanted to know what our reaction was so I responded as follows:
"This case demonstrates how harsh the law is. Enforcing it in such a heavy-handed way is inappropriate and ridiculous.
"Common sense suggests that a gentle warning and a reminder to Mr Emery to put a no smoking sign in his van would have been sufficient.
"It's almost ten years since the smoking ban was introduced. Compliance is very high which indicates there are very few people who aren't aware that smoking is forbidden in workplaces, including work vehicles.
"Do we really need 'No Smoking signs everywhere? Instead of punishing people like Mr Emery for this most trivial of offences, the authorities should amend the regulations because the vast majority of 'No Smoking' signs are increasingly redundant."
In the event they didn't use any of it but the issue of signs that are essentially redundant is something I may come back to.
After all, do we really 'No Smoking' signs on every shop window, for example? Who, in this day and age, would walk into a store and light up?
Truth is, 'No Smoking' signs rarely if ever have anything to do with health.
In terms of advising people they can't smoke in shops or work vans (or churches!) they tell us nothing we don't already know.
In many cases their primary purpose is no longer to inform but to create a culture in which smoking is widely perceived as a forbidden, even criminal, activity.
This less than subtle tactic is part of a general strategy to denormalise smoking and, by association, smokers.
Trevor Emery could have been let off with a word in his ear. But no, he had to be made an example of, a warning to anyone else who dares to overlook one of the most important symbols of modern life – the ubiquitous 'No Smoking' sign.