Enviro health in the wrong

chatty123

Hi All
just looking for a bit iof inside info here if possible. my husband works for the local authority and has received a letter thru the works system saying he is to be fined £50 for smoking in his wagon. he called the name on the letter and the chap from the enviromental health says he and a colleague saw him smoking a cig and drinking from his thermos. he told them he has never smoked in his 51 years and he may have been doing his paperwork and it was pen in his mouth, and the smoke they saw was steam from the brew not ciggie smoke. their reply was
" well its our word against yours"
Hubby has worked at the same place for 30 years and every one of those guys can vouch that he's never smoked so surely the enviro people must have to prove photographic evidence. and if there was 2 of them why didnt they approach him then they would have seen that it wasnt what they thought.

i am sooo mad that to think these people can do this without getting proper evidence

fluffnutter

Chatty, I'd be pretty mad too! I'm sure it won't come to this, but the fact that he's a non-smoker can be easily medically proven. I used to work in Life Assurance and there's something called a cotinine test which is really straightforward (just a simple urine dipstick). So it's not really 'our word against yours' because it can actually be proven. Suggest your husband lets his line manager know what's going on, responds in writing to the original letter from environmental health stating that he's a non-smoker and then forgets about it.

It's up to them to prove it and if he's ultimately prepared to take a test I can't see where they can go with it, quite frankly.

sagalout1954

http://www.smokefreeengland.co.uk/faq/enforcement.html#9

Don't do any more 'on the phone' stuff - no conversations with anyone in EH, EVERYTHING in writing. Advise that he will not be paying as he does not, and never has, smoked. State clearly that when his Fixed Penalty arrives he will allow it to go to Court and will produce witnesses and evidence from his GP showing that he does not smoke.

If he smokes there may be an element of "our word against yours", if he doesn't..................

chatty123

thanks guys. I've calmed down a little now . ha ha
after seeing his boss they have said they were going to make some calls to the enviro guys boss. the enviro guy said this morning to hubby that he was smoking discreetly... ha ha what ajoke these people are
JOBSWORTH or what

maninthestreet

Refuse to pay the fine, go to court, get witnesses who can testify that your husbands is a non-smoker. Why did the enviro health people mention he was drinking from a thermos flask??? It's not illegal to do so.

Widelats

sagalout1954 wrote: »

http://www.smokefreeengland.co.uk/faq/enforcement.html#9

Don't do any more 'on the phone' stuff - no conversations with anyone in EH, EVERYTHING in writing. Advise that he will not be paying as he does not, and never has, smoked. State clearly that when his Fixed Penalty arrives he will allow it to go to Court and will produce witnesses and evidence from his GP showing that he does not smoke.

If he smokes there may be an element of "our word against yours", if he doesn't..................

Do you have a email address or contact address for the Enviro Health main office? I need some things in writing too and do not know who to ask, its about cockroaches and the acceptability level of infestations for tenants of council housing, basically i got the council telling me one thing, and i am pretty sure roaches are a health hazard and must be exterminated at the source, council are saying its fine to live with, i say differently, i need some facts in writing to go to court.

CIS

Do you have a email address or contact address for the Enviro Health main office

They are each run indivdually by the local authority they are not a national organisation.

chatty123

maninthestreet wrote: »

Refuse to pay the fine, go to court, get witnesses who can testify that your husbands is a non-smoker. Why did the enviro health people mention he was drinking from a thermos flask??? It's not illegal to do so.

I think he mentioned seeing him drinking from the flask to prove to hubby that they def saw him when they said they did. what the pil...cks should have done was approach the wagon, then they will have seen the smoke was from the thermos and the cig was prob his pen

Driver8

Chatty, what absolute politically correct brainwashed imbeciles your husband works with.

" well its our word against yours"

These are the type of people grassing up folk like this that would have been shutting the cattle truck doors 60 years ago. What goes through the simple minds of absolutely despicable people like that?

We all know councils are reknowned for employing useless people and it looks like your council has at least two of them.

The_Pedant

I would be inclined to finish any letter with the point that if they cannot tell the difference between a pen, and a lit cigarette, then it really brings into question the ability of these people to do their job!