Decorator fined for smoking in his own van 裝潢師在私家車上抽菸遭罰

A decorator has been fined for breaching Britain’s smoking ban ­—­ by puffing on a cigarette in his own van, he said earlier this month.

Gordon Williams, 58, of Llanafan in west Wales, was told by officials that his van was classed as a workplace. This meant he fell foul of the smoking ban, brought in last year to cover enclosed public places but not private areas.

He was fined £30 (NT$1,800), even though he says he was not working and was on the way to buy his wife some teabags at the time.

“I appreciate that a driver of a coach or a bus can’t smoke at the wheel because obviously, that is the law of the land,” he said.

“Of course, there are tools and things in the van but a barrister would carry about documents in a briefcase in his own car. This is no different to my mind.”

Ceredigion County Council, which imposed the fine, said it would be inappropriate to comment on individual cases. (AFP)

本月稍早，一位裝潢師表示，他因為違反英國的禁菸令──他在自己的小貨車上抽了一根菸而被罰款。

現年五十八歲、住在威爾斯西部拉納凡的高登．威廉斯被相關單位人員告知，他的箱型貨車被歸類為工作場所，這表示他違反了去年起實施的禁菸令，該禁令適用於密閉式公共場所，但不包括私人領域。

雖然他說他當時不是在工作，而是要開車去幫太太買一些茶包，但他還是被罰款三十英鎊（新台幣一千八百元）。

他說：「我很高興客運或公車司機不能在車上吸菸，因為很明顯地，英國的法律就是這樣規定的。」

「當然，我車上是有放工具和一些用品，但我覺得這跟律師車上放著裝有訴訟文件的手提箱沒什麼兩樣。」

對威爾斯開罰的錫爾迪金郡議會表示，他們不會針對單一案件發表評論。

（法新社�翻譯：袁星塵）