Telford pub customer 'told to leave' for smoking e-cig
They are the latest device used by smokers seeking to kick the habit. But one woman today claimed she had been asked to leave a Telford pub after using an e-cigarette, even though they do not emit smoke.
Eva Ashton-Cox was having a drink in the William Withering Wetherspoons in Wellington when she was told to stop using her e-cigarette.
Legally, the smoking ban does not apply to e-cigarettes. The devices actually release a vapour, which is mainly water.
However, Miss Ashton-Cox, 30, her partner John Dochnalek, 34, and her sister Marianne, 27, were all asked to leave the pub on Friday.
Miss Ashton-Cox, from Donnington, who is registered disabled and suffers from both ME and Fibromyalgia, said: "We went in around 3pm, it was quiet because it was after lunch, there were about 20 people in.
"I was using the e-cigarette when I walked in, I sat down using it, then my sister went to go and get some coffees.
"When she came back, the deputy manager came over and told us not to use them.
"I'm registered disabled and he asked me to go outside and smoke with the smokers.
"They said I had to leave the building if I was going to continue, if not, I could stay but I would have to put it away.
"I've not had any issues anywhere else in Telford.
"He said they can't police it because they can't tell the difference.
"Mine's a big silver pen, it looks nothing like a cigarette. It looks more like a torch than a cigarette.
"If it was a Friday night and the pub was really busy, I could understand because they can't keep an eye on everyone, but at 3pm on a Friday, when I was sat with my family, I can't see an issue."
E-cigarettes provide a hit of nicotine – a highly addictive drug – and some fear they reinforce the behaviour of smoking, making it harder to give up in the long term.
Sales have boomed over the last year, with an estimated 1.3 million people in the UK now thought to use them.
Wetherspoons said that the decision is a company-wide policy and that the family would be welcome again.
Eddie Gershon a spokesman for Wetherspoons, said: "Wetherspoons for the past four years has not allowed e-cigarettes in its pubs for the simple reason that, in a very busy pub, it's very hard for staff to distinguish between an e-cigarette and a lit cigarette."
"We understand this lady's disappointment but the member of staff acted in accordance with Wetherspoons' policy.
"The lady would have been asked to stop using the e-cigarette but she would not have been asked to leave the pub.
"If she left the pub that's her own decision and she is welcome back."
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