Report to the People
On the Buses
Those of you who are of a certain age are probably looking forward to October, when free off-peak bus travel for pensioners comes into force. The thought of being able to jump on a bus and visit relatives, meet friends, or see sights throughout the old Strathclyde Regional Council area for nothing will, I imagine, be fairly tempting.
However, a day trip to Loch Lomond would not be half as appealing if you had to travel there in a bus with the driver paying more attention to making a roll-up than the road and the passengers ignoring the no smoking signs.
People selfishly smoking on buses is not just a nuisance – it’s poses health and safety risks too. But, even if you complain, you’re more likely than not to be given short shrift.
I was recently told of one elderly lady who was thrown off a bus and told to wait for the next one, after she asked the driver to put his cigarette out. There’s also a young mother who was forced to cut short her journey and walk the rest of the way home, after her fellow passengers refused to stop smoking next to her baby.
But wait a minute. Forcing pensioners and young mothers off the buses and letting the smokers stay on? Isn’t that, I asked the local police, the wrong way round?
Indeed it is, they replied. It is illegal, they went on, in almost all circumstances for drivers to smoke when carrying passengers. It is also illegal for passengers to smoke where no smoking signs are displayed.
The police, obviously, have better things to do than hide behind bus shelters, trying to catch people smoking where they shouldn’t. But if you make a complaint to the police, and there’s evidence to back it up, a report will be sent to the Procurator Fiscal. If a bus company repeatedly flouts the law, it could lose its licence and passengers who do likewise can be banned from the buses.
Knowledge, as they say, is power. And knowing the facts about the law might well come in useful the next time your complaints on the bus are ignored.
I’m hardly a health fascist as you know, but there really is no excuse for smoking on buses. If transatlantic travellers can make it from here to Los Angeles without a cigarette, is anyone seriously saying they can’t survive a 10 minute trip into the town?
Why risk a fine, or a ban, or your company, for the sake of a smoke?
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