Paul McCrystal asked about smoking in Brighton bus shelters (Letters, November 24). This was covered in the legislation introduced on July 1, which applies to virtually all enclosed public places and workplaces in England but whether it applies to a specific bus shelter depends on whether the level of enclosure meets specific criteria.

For an offence to be committed under this law the shelter needs to be at least "substantially enclosed", which is defined as "if they have a ceiling or roof, but have an opening in the walls, which is less than half the total area of the walls".

More details can be found on SmokeFree England's website page at www.smokefree england.co.uk/what-do-ido/ quick-guide.html.

I do not know if Brighton's bus company has gone further than the regulations require in enforcing a smoking ban, but if it has it is likely to have erred on the side of caution - better to display "No smoking" signs in all shelters than to risk prosecution and a fine if a "substantially enclosed" shelter is not so marked. This course of action would remove the need to keep specific measurements of each shelter - which would be an additional cost and, like any record, open to error.

As far as a smoker is concerned, I would think that the mere presence of a notice would not create an offence if he/she lit up in a nonsubstantially enclosed shelter - it would be up to the prosecuting body (the local council) to prove their case based on the legislation.

  • Russell Ridout, Howlett Drive Hailsham