Have you heard? Scotrail has rolled out no-smoking regulations on all of there platforms! Surely this is something to rejoice amongst all of the terrible things that have happened this year, especially recently.
However, I cannot help but be very sceptical of this new arrangement.
In England the no smoking rule has been rolled out across all stations for years, showcased by brightly coloured signs up and down platforms warning of possible fines for smokers.
Though a reasonable idea the result is not pleasant. When at an open-air, small train station down in England, though there are in fact no smokers on the platforms, they are even more unavoidable than before.
Now unable to smoke on the station, they gather in hives at the gate entrance, a spot where the regulation dose not stretch and where they can still see and run for their trains at the last minute.
This collective of smoking individuals is something any person seeking to board a train at the same station must push through, breathing in not just one breath of second hand smoke but a whole cloud of it.
It is unsightly, and provides an unavoidable chance of breathing in the second hand smoke that, if these members of the public had been spread out across the platform, would be avoidable by standing away from them.
Is this the future of Scotrail stations too?
What furthers my scepticism is the lack of signage in all stations throughout Scotrail. The knowledge is very much being spread by word of mouth, mainly coming from disgruntled smokers who've been warned if not fined for smoking on the platform when they had no knowledge of such a rule.
Which all brings me to my conspiracy theory like way of thinking. For years our government has proffettered of smoking, and continue to do so, their recent roll out of new smoking rules ensure that the smaller, cheaper smoking items will no longer be legally available in stores, forcing smokers to spend more to get their fix. Furthermore cities around the nation have rolled out littering fines, while some sign post these fines clearly, others such as Glasgow hardly announce the eighty pound sum they will charge litterers.
And yet when you ask people who have been fined what it was for, most are getting done for ciggerett butts dropped on the ground. While this is considered the most unsightly form of littering I would not call it such a pain as gum, yet you ask any bubble blowers if they have been fined for their dropped mess of sticky goo and most have not. Which makes me wonder if councils have found there own way to proffetter of unsuspecting smokers? With big buissness like Scotrail chiming in, and using their lack of signage about the new regulations to catch people out?
I feel particularly sorry for the smokers on Scotrails platforms. As the company has made delays and cancellations their most notable talent it is not uncommon for a commuter, or any train traveller, to be stuck on one of their poorly arranged platforms for half an hour where it was meant to be five minutes. Now, those who turn to smoking to relax, for something to do, will be hit by a fine they didn't have reason to believe was coming for lighting up to kill the time and figure out how they're to explain the delay to their boss.
Share this post to let people know about the new regulations so your friends don't get unfairly caught out, and give us a like if you agree that smokers are being used wrongly in the fight for profits in a deminsihed economy.
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