Parked bus used to defy pub smoking ban

Graham Wrigley has parked an old bus alongside his pub in an attempt to get round the smoking ban.

Mr Wrigley, who runs the Post Office Hotel in Foxton, says he will not give up on the ploy even if it means going to jail.

"I know they will try to prosecute me eventually," he said. "They can send me to jail if they like. I won't mind. I need the holiday."

But MidCentral Health smoke-free officer Robert Holdaway the bus ploy would not work as a means of getting around anti-smoking legislation which came into force on December 10.

Dr Holdaway said the Smoke-free Environments Amendment Act requires licensees to "take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure that no person smokes at any time in a part of the premises that is not an open area".

He added: "I would certainly not be encouraging other publicans to scour local wreckers' yards for old buses."

However, Mr Wrigley argued that the bus, which he set up alongside an outdoor smoking area, was not "part of the premises".

"In America they set up limos outside the bars and smoke there," he said. "This is the same thing. The bus is mobile and you could probably drive it down the street if you want.

"There are 13 windows and two doors that are wide open. The wind goes howling through there sometimes, so you couldn't get more of an open area than that."

Mr Wrigley said he'd heard of a publican in Wairarapa who had responded to the suggestion that people could smoke in their hotel rooms by setting up a special "Room 12".

All smokers had to do was sign an accommodation register and they could use the room.

Dr Holdaway said that though some licensed premises were claiming business had slowed since the introduction of the legislation, others had experienced little, if any, downturn and were welcoming the cleaner working environment.

"For those who find their takings are down, the last thing they need to be doing is spending money on solutions that do not comply with the legislation," he said. "It's simply bad business."

Mr Wrigley said the smoking laws and other restrictive government legislation had cut his weekly takings by two thirds in recent months.

"All that I'm doing now is working long enough to save some money to move to Australia to join the rest of my family. There will be 19 of us there then. Last one to leave, turn out the lights."

- NZPA