Award-winning inn gets apology for no-smoking signs 'fine'

The Angel at Hetton banned smoking two years before it became law, has outside smoking areas and a sign at its entrance making clear its policy.

But the inn, which featured in an episode of television's The Trip, starring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, was subject to a random check by an environmental health officer and given an on-the-spot fine.

Craven District Council has since admitted it was acting on out of date 'stricter' legislation, has apologised, and updated its information.

“On this occasion, one of our officers visited the business and advised on the display of no-smoking signage in order to comply with regulations and avoid a fine," said Catherine Thornton, the council's senior environmental health officer.

"This advice was based on - much stricter - regulations that are no longer current, as we had not been made aware that regulations surrounding the display of no-smoking signage had changed. "This was an unfortunate oversight which has since been rectified. We have verbally apologised to The Angel Inn and have updated our literature. "

Pascal Watkins, owner of the pub restaurant, which last year celebrated its 30th anniversary, said his assistant manager had been in charge on the day of the random visit and had explained she was not authorised to pay the instant fine.

"I rang the council, left a message and said I was not going to pay. I explained we actually banned smoking two years before it became law," he said.

Mr Watkins then discovered through a quick search on the internet that the council, which had sent out a letter warning of random checks in July, was acting on out-of-date legislation.

"The council is completely out of t date. What the Government is actually talking about now is allowing managers and owners to come up with their own signs and that very little effort is needed to enforce the ban, because it is already being self enforced," he said.

Mr Watkins added: "I could have paid it and I wonder how many other people have unwittingly paid it."

But the council claimed only premises that were not displaying any no-smoking signage at all had received fixed penalty notices, which was in line with the current 2012 legislation which the council had to enforce.

"It requires the display of at least one legible no-smoking sign on the premises. During routine patrols our officers find that on the whole no-smoking premises are complying with these regulations," added Ms Thornton.

She also denied that the random checks were anything to do with creating 'additional revenue streams' for the council.

"We do not rely on fines to balance our budget," she said.

"We took the decision, earlier this year, to reinforce the smoking ban, because attention to the rules seemed to be waning. The council had received complaints about smoking in taxis, for example. Therefore, our environmental health officers are now looking out for breaches whilst carrying out routine patrols."