£775 for two cigs

Aug 14 2008 by Steve Stratford, North Wales Weekly News

A TAXI driver who twice lit up in her parked cab was left with a £775 bill.

Magistrates at Llandudno heard on Tuesday how, on the second occasion, Mandy Astles had hurled her cigarette out of the driver’s window when she was approached by a Conwy County Council licensing enforcement official.

The official had been shopping at a retail park and felt duty-bound to report what she had witnessed as she drove past the taxi, said prosecutor Stuart Dunn.

Astles, 34, told her she was stressed.

She was given a £250 fine for dropping litter and Astles was hit with fines of £175 for each of the occasions on which she smoked in the Skoda Octavia cab.

In addition, Astles, of Broad Street, Llandudno Junction, must pay £160 costs and a £15 victim surcharge.

She had been caught on March 12 and February 28. Mr Dunn said a clerical officer for the council’s licensing department saw her smoking in the parked car in Llandudno’s main street on the first occasion.

Astles didn’t appear in court and after the case could not be contacted for comment.

Mr Dunn said Astles hadn’t accepted fixed penalties and the case was proved in her absence.

A spokesman for the pro-smoking group Forest said: “It’s disgusting that councils are extorting money from people in this way. The woman in question was harming absolutely no-one.

“It’s becoming more and more obvious councils are using smoking regulations to screw money out of people and they should be ashamed of themselves.”