A van driver has been handed a £200 fine for not displaying a ‘No Smoking' sticker on his new vehicle.
Freddie Beasley from Cleankill Environmental Services had just picked up the brand new van from a garage when he was pulled over in a joint police and council operation to clamp down on dangerous vehicles, according to the Daily Mail.
However, council officers spotted the vehicle wasn’t displaying a 'no smoking' sticker on his new van and he was given an on-the-spot fine of £200.
Beasley tried to explain that he had only just picked the new van up from a workshop where workers had painted the Cleankill logo on the side and that he was driving it back to the firm's HQ in Surrey.
The law states that any 'company vehicle' must have a no smoking sign - meaning that if he had been in the van with no logo he wouldn't have been fined as it would have been considered a 'personal van'.
Paul Bates from Cleankill Environmental Services said: “Let this be a warning to anybody that drives a company van.
“The irony is that if our technician had been smoking he would have been fined four time less, just £50.”
GrumpyOldMen - 05/02/2013 10:15
EU first directive: "if you can interfere and legislate against something that doesn't need interfering or legislating against, then do it and feel smug". Poor Freddie. The law is the law even if it would be an affront to donkeys to call it an ass.