Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Landlady fined for flouting smoke ban
A landlady who defied the smoking ban in her own pub was ordered to pay more than £2,000 in one of the first cases in the Midlands under the new laws.
Josephine Garfield allowed numerous customers to light up in her pub, the Top Bell, in Belmont Road, Lye, a court heard. More than a dozen police and council officers raided the pub only to find punters puffing away openly in front of staff. Garfield, aged 41, of Queensway, Wollescote, pleaded guilty to failing to stop people from smoking.
She also admitted serving after hours and playing music after 11pm.
Dudley magistrates fined her £1,000 for the smoking offence, £500 for serving after hours, £100 for the music offence and ordered her to pay £1,015 in costs.
Miss Neelam Bangar, prosecuting on behalf of Dudley Council, said: “Whether people agree or disagree with the legislation, it is the law.”
Dudley magistrates heard Garfield had previously received a series of written and verbal warnings from council officers after reports of people smoking in the pub.
Miss Bangar said Garfield told a council officer during the raid: “I know we’re breaking the law, but how can I control them if they are all outside? This is Lye.”
Representing herself in court, Garfield told the court she had actually asked all the smokers to come inside on what was a hot and busy evening last August, because she feared trouble may erupt.
She said a man had been found beaten up outside the pub a few days earlier and that regulars had told her the men responsible were returning that evening.
“I have run a pub for 14 years and have tried very hard to always run good establishments,” she said.
Chairman of the bench, Mr Robert Taylor, said: “We’ve taken into consideration your early guilty plea and the fact that you have been a licensee for the last 14 years.”
Mr Taylor added that magistrates had decided against reconsidering Garfield’s license because of her impressive record in the area as a landlady.
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WOW more than a dozen police to crack down on this extreamly serious crime. Really pleased the Police have thier priorities right
ps Im a non smoker
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she should have her license taken away.if she had to ask them to come in because of the trouble..the pub should be shut for good.
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Closing down pubs doesn’t stop trouble, it just shifts the trouble from one pub to another.
Not every pub is a sterilised franchise, some pubs have character and long may they remain so. This law is an ass.
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PC’s gone mad? Fined for smoking and yet the issue of extorting money out of smokers whilst elsewhere in Europe prices are far lower..no investigation into that then, boys in blue?
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“Whether people agree or disagree with the legislation, it is the law.”
Spoken like a true Europhile. I also recall the people of Poland being told similar propagana as above, around the time of 1939..
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we have a pub in the same area.we totally stand behind
them 100%.this is totally wrong and should not have gone as far as it did.when will smoking in the houses of parliment be stopped.
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The law is the law. learn to live it. You are no different to anyone else.
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Cigarettes are a perfectly legal product. This government has banned a legal product on private property whilst at the same time they continue to collect billions in tax from its sale – hyprocisy. Whether smoking takes place in a pub which is private property should be the owners decision and no one elses, definitely not governments. I dread to think what they are going to ban next alcohol I suspect, prohibition is on the way if this lot stay in power.
“Spoken like a true Europhile. I also recall the people of Poland being told similar propagana as above, around the time of 1939..”
Absolutely correct
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Another example of the nazi sorry i mean labour party telling us how to live our lives. Drinking sposed to be bad for you as well but they havent banned that….yet.
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You’re damned if you do and you’re damned if you don’t.
Here we have someone who has run a difficult business for many years to the benefit of the community and is responding to the impossible situation that Government has imposed.
Was the ban created to satisfy ALL the British people or to further the political careers of individual politicians? Promotion within the party or, like Ms Hewitt, additional jobs with Boots and a private health provider?
Traditional Labour supporters must be amazed that Blair & Brown etc have retained the word ‘Labour’ in their party’s name.
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Here is another example of a honest business woman being made to be a so called criminal by a law built on LIES,Shame on this Government for trying to take away peoples freedom of choice,it will not work because the people of this Country will not have it.The rest of the EU will not have it,when is this Government going to wake up and see that the millions of smokers are all VOTERS,smoking/non smoking that is the only way forward people must have the right to choose,cheers,Tug.
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SHA asked “when will smoking in the houses of parliment be stopped.”
They voted seperately to bring in a ban in both the commons and the lords, it came into force on 1st July last year just like everywhere else.
Why not try basing your opinions on facts rather than tobacco industry propoganda?
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I was always told that The Lye was the last town to have the Riot Act read. When the Government were having trouble collecting taxes. I hope it is true and I hope we are the last place to give in to the smoking ban too. Pubs not serving food should be able to chose smoking or none smoking based on their customers preferences (I’m a non smoker too)Well done Josephine
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