Carlisle taxi driver caught smoking in cab gets fine cut
A taxi driver puffed away in court as he was reprimanded by magistrates for smoking in his cab.
Paul Dalgleish, 49, drives a Hackney carriage and was spotted by an enforcement officer as he drove along Victoria Viaduct last October.
He failed to attend to his first court hearing – where he was handed a £200 fine –- but, after claiming he failed to receive the summons, the case was heard again at Carlisle Magistrates’ Court yesterday.
And – as he smoked a legal “smoke free” cigarette in the court room – Mr Dalgleish, who pleaded guilty, hit out at the charge against him.
There were no passengers in his cab at the time but the Health Act 2006 rules still apply as his taxi is a designated public place.
He told the magistrates: “The reason I didn’t pay (the fixed penalty) is I’ve got serious objections to the smoking laws in general.
“I think this law needs to be sorted. You’ve got people sitting in bus stops smoking away and environmental health aren’t prosecuting anybody, but a taxi driver is seen and it’s a clamp down on the taxi driver.”
But Dalgleish, of Warwick Square, was told by the magistrates that there was “nothing that smells worse than getting into a cab where someone has been smoking.”
They told him that they “totally agreed with regard to the lack of policing” of the public places he mentioned, but told him that it wasn’t relevant to his prosecution.
After hearing details of his income however, his fine was cut. He must now pay a fine of £62, a £15 victim surcharge and £75 costs.
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FAQ
Could have saved a lot of money by either not smoking in his cab or by paying the initial fine.As i have said before Dundee taxi drivers keep the smoking police in a job. 
