From Kent Online:
A stunned van driver was slapped with a hefty £200 fine – for not displaying a No Smoking sticker in his vehicle.
Trevor Emery was fined four times more than if he had actually been caught puffing at the wheel when he was booked by a city council warden in Watling Street, Canterbury.
The washing machine repairer, who does not smoke, was left bewildered by the little known law, which makes it compulsory to display a No Smoking sticker in a work van...
Head of safer neighbourhoods Doug Rattray said:
"It is an offense to not display a No Smoking sign in a vehicle that is used for commercial purposes. This is the case regardless of whether someone is self-employed, the only person to use the vehicle or if nobody smokes in it. We enforce this but the level of fine is set nationally in law. Mr Emery received a fine, which he paid, for this offense. He was advised on the legislation and given the correct sign.”
Council spokesman Rob Davies confirmed that around 50 fines have been issued since the law came into force.
Does anybody know, does the 'work van' rule apply to salesmen's cars too? And if so, what about cars which people use for normal commuting?