People Smoking Outside Of Designated Areas

General discussion regarding the UK's No.1 Theme Park. Talk about anything and everything Alton Towers here.
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Marcus
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Fairly recently Alton Towers, Chessington, Legoland and Thorpey have added a few new designated areas, especially Chessington and I am pleased about this because it gives people a less of an excuse to smoke not in designated areas. What really  :censored: me off is that I see people smoke in outside food eating areas and the bloody smelly smoke blows in my direction and towards other people with children around, its not acceptable. Once when me and my mum went a pub/restaurant next to Hocus pocus hall in Chessington and a women sat on the table outside next to us and started smoking along with her husband. On the far end of the restaurant was a smoking area which clearing said on a green sign post ''Smoking Area''. So then my mum and I moved tables and the staff kept on passing them and yet never told them to move. So my mum told a member of staff to tell them to move to the smoking area. So she told them to move [-X and they hobbled down to the smoking zone. All of this happening and 3 or 4 tables away from us more people were smoking. Its not good to allow people to smoke in a restaurant, yes its outdoors but still, also with children around.


Also when people smoke in flipping queues!!  :x How selfish is that. You stand in a long queue with lots of people and then theres someone blowing their smoke right in my face. Its not acceptable.  [-X
Last edited by Marcus on Sun Nov 03, 2013 10:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Marcus
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Cheers for fixing it xD
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Boz
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Before this topic gets going, can I remind all users to keep it civil.
We had a topic like this many months ago that we had to lock and remove due to things getting personal.

You have been warned! 8)
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Marcus
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Yes Mr. Boz!  :P
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SuperWill
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I have noticed this aswell! It is a disgrace! I think smoking is disgusting and I don't like it! I also hate smelling the smoke! I think the Alton Towers Staff should be very strict on smoking in the Resort! Who agrees?
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lol people are SO BALLSY sometimes. A girl did try to light up in the que for Air near me. I should have said "Yo, I've come here for Air, not carbon dioxide and tar"  8)

I know this might seem a bit radical but the fact of the matter is manufacture and sale of cigarettes is filthy...You could call it bloody aswell because of the cancer statistics. Why is it still legal when everything else is caught up in health & safety?

Heck I even had an idea that the law could be, you have a maximum of 3 cigarettes a week. As an ex smoker I know thats all you need/enjoy. You don't really enjoy one smoke after another.
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The thing is (and I am no way trying to defend smokers actions here) a lot of them dont actually realise how offensive the smell/smokey air is to non smokers. I am now (very proudly) an ex smoker and to be honest I am astounded when I walk past people that stink of cigs to think that I ever used to smell like that and didnt realise it.

That said, I never smoked in queue lines or close proximity to crowds - It would feel wrong and weird (and I have manners!)

Its a shame alton cant bring in 'smoking fines' for people say caught smoking in queue lines? It would soon put a stop to it!
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Coke
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DoubleOh7 wrote: Its a shame alton cant bring in 'smoking fines' for people say caught smoking in queue lines? It would soon put a stop to it!
According to the park terms & conditions there is a fine! I've never seen it implemented though. I find it incredibly hypocritical also that the park continue to sell cigarettes in Towers Trading and X-Sell.

Should you have an issue with a smoker in a queue, inform a staff member - they are obliged to enforce the park rules.
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PeteB
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I'm on the fence with this one, so I'm just going to be honest.

Basically I'm an on-off smoker. Sometimes I go for weeks or months without a fag, other times I might be smoking 5-10 a day. I never smoke in queues or in crowded places because I do think consideration should be given for others, but in open space like a street I don't see the issue and I've never obeyed the "designated smoking areas" at Towers or anywhere else for that matter.

If someone is going to try and claim rights to air space and tell me I can't smoke in the street because people passing by might not like the smell, then quite frankly they do one as far I'm concerned.

What'll be next then, a restriction on farting and burping in queue lines? To be fair, I find that far more offensive!


...."please break wind in the designated farting areas!"
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Wes
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I recently visited the park with some friends, a few of us are smokers, me included.

I disagree with smoking in a queue, however find the designated benches a bit daft. It's an open air park where it's only natural to light up. We would only smoke on paths whilst people went to the loo or between rides, but never near anyone.
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Delta79
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I am a smoker, and I don't smoke in queuelines or in open air seating areas for eating.

I believe in looking around before lighting up, and use common sense. If it a area with loads of people with kids, i don't light up. but if it 1830 on the gloomy wood path with no one insight bar my mate (also a smoker) then i light up.
and Standing down wind of non smokers, so the smoke does not drift past them.

At the end of the day, I respect the non smokers right to clean air.

Just a sub note on a few anti smoking nuts. (there is one that take it too far)

last time i was at AT, i sat down in the FV Designated Smoking Area (DSA) for a quick drink and a smoke, when a bloke walks into the middle of the DSA, starts coughing and complaining about us (the smokers) filling his fresh air with that ****ing dirty smoke. and that we should stop right now cause he is there.

my reply was "Sir, There are signs that clearly state this is a Smoking area. and it is reasonable for smoke to be in this area, and it is your choice to walk into a smoking area. If sir wants we can get security to sort the problem out."
He looked shocked at being call sir, and hurried off with mention of security.  (I don't work on for AT, but i find saying sir, knocks them off balance mentally)
Last edited by Delta79 on Wed Nov 14, 2012 12:02 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Fiyero
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I go to legoland with my nephew a lot which I believe has only one designated smoking area. I see people smoking everywhere, though not too many of them luckily. I don't agree with the argument that they can't stop smoking in open public areas as theme parks aren't public, they are private. I think it needs stronger enforcement, I favour little water spray bottles to stop the smoking outside designated areas
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Vanessa Feltz
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There's an argument to made here, That when someone pays up to £10 for a pack of Cigarettes, Making each cost 50p, asking someone to put out their Cigarette then becomes like asking them to chuck away their money.

I'm a smoker, but I too cannot stand people that smoke in queues, It's unfair on those that don't smoke.

I'm the kind of smoker that will move away from my own group if there are no smokers in it and walk along the edge of the path so as to cause the least amount of hassle to others as possible, I do however find the smoking areas quite aggravating, especially when trying to enjoy a theme park.

It is possible to look at smokers from both sides of the wall rather than tarnishing all with the same brush.
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I find smoking at towers incredibly annoying, money has been invested in smoking areas for a reason! But as long as discretion is used its ok, for instance in my eyes smoking in cloud cuckoo land when surrounded by kids is a massive no no and when I'm working I will always tell people to put out there cigarettes or move to the smoking area (a good 50% of the time this is greeted with abuse) but if in the dark forest where there aren't as many kids I generally let it go, as long as it isn't in queue lines! If I am operating a ride and I see someone smoking in the queueline I will PA them until they extinguish the cigarette and if they don't they don't ride.
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Ok i used to be a smoker but now its just occasional, but that because i work at Tesco-thats a different story though-

When i was 16 at college we had 2 DSA's which was fine but when i went of site for lunch or to walk to the other side of Stamford where i caught the bus i would come into contact with alot of people, if there was people i was about to pass i would swap the cigarette to the other hand and try and keep it away the best i could. If i was in a bus shelter i would give up my seat and go round the side and then light up, and most importantly to me, if there was parents with kids i would try to hide the cigarette from view and at all times in all situations i would blow the smoke either up in the air and not forward or in the opposite direction of others. 

What always makes me pissed of is when people (non smokers) enter DSA's and complain. For instance i was in a pub in Bourne where i live and i overheard a 40ish year man moaning that he couldn't go and sit in the beer garden for the smoke. Fair enough if this was summer i suppose, but it was 5 degrees out and was in winter. If i had the choice i would prefer to have my drink inside where it was warm that walk out into cold weather just to complain at the smokers.

Now on to AT, i dont think that we can fully blame the selling of tobacco on park, as 90% of the time, strangely always in Nemmie s Queue-Airs Queue and Thirteen.Rita area it is mainly Cannabis that you smell, which to me the last think you want before going on a coaster is being forced to passively inhale drugs. AT needs a thorough bag check like at Universal/Sea world/Busch Gardens, where smoking i might add is not an issue, so that bags can be checked for Drug paraphernalia and drugs them selves and explain at the gate that this is a family resort and although permitted in designated areas smoking is under no circumstance tolerated in non designated areas and queueline. If you are caught doing so you will be removed from the park with no refund.

And if the park have to sell ciggies, then maybe they could give them a little card with them stating smoking rules and DSA Locations.
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As a smoker my self, I think topics like these are a little bit pathetic. Fact is, smoking has been happening now for hundreds of years. Wether you like it or not, I dont see how it can be offensive, its not like the fag shouts abuse at you whilst its being smoked. So you dont like the smell, theres lots of smells i dont like, you walk past them and get over it.

In saying the above though, i do smoke with consideration. I dont smoke in que lines. I dont smoke around children and me and the rest of the smokers seperate ourselves from the non smokers. We dont use the DSA, but we dont just like up in the middle of croweded areas. Its either on a quite very open air path or we find a bench or patch of grass and have a sit. That way people can see us but dont have to come any where near us.

Topics like these I dont agree with because you are just singling out a whole social group and slagging them off openly. Smoking exists, get over it.
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Boz
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As I warned at the beginning of the topic, Keep it civil. You are entitled to your opinion(s), by try to put it across in a manner that is not argumentative. That way we can all have a mature, adult discussion without it descending into a contest to 1-up everyone.
I won't give any more warnings on the matter. Any further posts that I feel are becoming heated, will be automatically deleted, and/or the topic locked.
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Jubby
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I would prefer it if all smokers went to the DSA, no matter what, and AT really need to start cracking down on people smoking outside of them - it makes them look like they don't care about their guests.

Some of you have mentioned being careful and not smoking where you think people won't be affected, but when theres a certain level of crowds its impossible for you to avoid getting the smoke near us non-smokers.

I remember quite well when I visited last year a couple of times that a smoker walked past us, in the opposite direction, on the path between gloomy wood and forbiden valley. You can smell it and breath it no matter which way the wind is blowing, which to be fair I am relatively used to due to a smoking best mate, but what irritates me is that AT have the rules and DSA and they feel they don't apply for some reason. It just made me really annoyed to be honest and was the low point of the visit, so AT need to do better in the future IMO.
Smoking is becoming more and more fround upon, in fact its quite astonishing how much has changed since they brought the indoor ban in, and I think eventually it will go completely. The sooner the better really.
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Now I dont smoke myself, I do however work in the live music industry so Im usually surrounded by people who do. My personal opinion is that yes look around and if its not crowded and it a big open space your probably not offending anyone other than those who would argue if you were a mile away. Yeah people probably shouldn't smoke in the queue but as stated I think 9 times out of 10 they just don't think its an issue. I was there on the worse week of scarefest and someone directly in front of me lit up and my friend i was with who had just lost his aunt to lung cancer went ballistic and in fairness my friend was well out of order but the fact was the guy put it out right away and said he was really sorry he dint think it was an issue. Its mostly perception and how it differs between smokers and none.

Only thing I have ever seen that annoyed me was the same week when everyone goes and you can queue for tickets for an hour or so I noticed a guy lean over to a staff member and ask if he could smoke in the ticket queue the staff member shrugged and said "sure why not". Now I dont know if they do or dont allow it there after all its on their land but not in the park but you would have thought the staff member would have said not in the queue but his response was really he couldn't care less.

Either way the more you enforce these rules the more the 2 sides will argue and so far I have never seen anyone smoking to the extent its been a real issue.
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This is why i said topics like these should not be allowed to be created. People are going to get irate and argumentative when a topic has been created to specifically segregate and complain about a minority of people. IMO, this topic should be locked and archived and future topics of this nature should not be allowed and closed. Its going to cause arguments. especially as you cannot perceive what tone people are writing there messages in. 

Said it once, ill say again. these types of topics will never be able to be discussed civil because it is a blatant personal attack on smokers.
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