Cigarette vending machines banned in England

flashy · 01-10-2011, 07:40

BBC News - Cigarette vending machines banned in England

here we go again, the government telling us what we can and can't do, yes the price of the fags in these machines is terrible but it's just something else the government is trying to impose on us...in a couple of years all the pubs will be gone and everyone will be stuck on their houses being miserable

Neil · 01-10-2011, 08:20

To stop under age buying I can understand but what was that rubbish about helping adults who want to quit - twoddle.

Just allow them to sell fags over the bar. No expensive machines or special packets so the cost will be lower and no under age problem.

Neil · 01-10-2011, 08:22

Just read it again and they can sell fags from behind the bar so I dont see why it would effect customers, at least they wont have to worry about having the correct change, just buy your fags with your beer.

flashy · 01-10-2011, 08:30

and thats coming from a non smoker

Neil · 01-10-2011, 08:58

I just dont like daft ideas done by people who dont think first.

jaysay · 01-10-2011, 09:07

Might be an idea if they made a concerted effort to stop the smuggling of tobacco and ciggies into the country instead of this cockamamie idea

Ken Moss · 01-10-2011, 09:51

I've never smoked but I must admit that the ban has killed pubs stone dead and the armies of non-smokers predicted to flock to the pub in droves have remained stubbornly absent.

However, if pubs can sell fags over the counter then bring it on as I have always looked at those machines with dumbstruck awe as to how they manage to sell fewer ciggies for more money.

The biggest worry I have is this ban on bulk discount wine that has crept into Scotland this morning. Three bottle of wine for a tenner at Asda does me very nicely and I don't want my only vice made even more expensive than it already is, thank you.

Going to the pub has become an expensive hobby.

wadey · 01-10-2011, 10:15

There wouldn't be smuggling if the tax was fair, anybody see the South American thing the other night, 2 pence a litre !

accyman · 01-10-2011, 11:20

will pubs now have to apply for a license to sell cigarettes putting yet another expense on a struggling business ?

mobertol · 01-10-2011, 12:50

The Protection from Tobacco (Sales from Vending Machines)(England) Regulations 2010.
"The regulations are part of ongoing work to reduce children and young people's access to tobacco." Signed by the Health Secretary. In effect from Oct 1st 2011.

A full impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business, the voluntary sector and the public sector is available from the Tobacco Programme, Department of Health, Room 712, Wellington House, 133-155 Waterloo Road, London SE1 8UG and is annexed to the Explanatory Memorandum.
(See link below)
The Protection from Tobacco (Sales from Vending Machines) (England) Regulations 2010 - Explanatory Memorandum

More info about current government policy and that of the former Labour Gov. on this issue can be found in the following link: Law Guide

I am not a smoker myself-never have been, but I do not find others smoking a problem.

Whilst the sale of tobacco was always thought to be a lucrative source of Tax revenue for the UK - studies over the last 10 years have shown that the cost to the nation in health care of patients with disease related to smoking out-weighs this revenue (I read somewhere that the discrepancy is something in the tune of 6.5p per cigarette -possibly on the "ASH" site)

Obviously preventing the very young from getting hooked on cigarettes is a good policy - education should be the main weapon. The original report cited by Flashy from the BBC says that only 11% of children who regularly smoke get their cigarettes from vending machines in any case - so the new regulations won't be that effective and will not be reaching the desired target. The main effect will just be on the pubs and businesses that have them as a sideline, and of course for the adults who run out of fags at odd times of day it will just be a nuisance...

Gordon Booth · 01-10-2011, 21:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by mobertol

Whilst the sale of tobacco was always thought to be a lucrative source of Tax revenue for the UK - studies over the last 10 years have shown that the cost to the nation in health care of patients with disease related to smoking out-weighs this revenue (I read somewhere that the discrepancy is something in the tune of 6.5p per cigarette -possibly on the "ASH" site)

.

Mobertol, so if you don't smoke you will live forever, never be ill and need no health care? At least the smokers are contributiong about 23.5 pence per cigarette towards their eventual care, before they die at a reasonable age!
Think what an expensive burden the non-smokers impose on the state by living to a ripe old age!
If it wasn't a lucrative source of tax some government would have made it illegal or taxed it so high almost no-one could afford it.

mobertol · 01-10-2011, 21:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gordon Booth

Mobertol, so if you don't smoke you will live forever, never be ill and need no health care? At least the smokers are contributiong about 23.5 pence per cigarette towards their eventual care, before they die at a reasonable age!
Think what an expensive burden the non-smokers impose on the state by living to a ripe old age!
If it wasn't a lucrative source of tax some government would have made it illegal or taxed it so high almost no-one could afford it.

No -of course not Gordon -it doesn't work like that! There are those who smoke all their lives, die at 90 in their sleep having smoked all their lives...they don't represent the average though. Successive governments increase the tax on tobaccco to try and re-dress the imbalance (SeeASH website as major advisors to successive governments in this field.) It is a cost to all...and a loss when young people die before their time...
The ban on vending machines is, however, laughable as it doesn't really address the problem they proport to be addressing...

Neil · 01-10-2011, 23:13

You are all missing the other big problem with removing fag machines from pubs - one less place to put your pint down so you can open your packet of dry roasted

Boeing Guy · 02-10-2011, 16:12

So let me get this straight, overpriced gag machines being banned in pubs is causing the decay.
I thought it was a combination of cheap booze at the supermarkets, rising rents on pubs, more expensive beer from the breweries etc...

cmonstanley · 02-10-2011, 16:55

that is only part of the reason its the fabric of society its not a coincedence that the rot set in when the factories closed that the pubs hand in hand started to decline. remember the friday night when you finished for the week and the first thing you looked forward to was going out to the pub the pubs were bustling then. now the service industries have took over ,people work at the weekend more and you cant go into work rough now.plus people spend their money on more materialistic items such as computers,sky tv and mobile phones.