Restrictions on the use of electronic cigarettes (or e-cigs) in enclosed public places might not be regulated by law in the UK at the moment, but many public transport companies, such as Stagecoach and British Airways, have already introduced a ban.
Southern Vectis follow suit
Isle of Wight bus provider, Southern Vectis, have today confirmed they’ve also banned the use of electronic cigarette devices (commonly known as ‘vaping’) on their entire bus fleet.
Southern Vectis bus drivers aware of passengers using e-cigs will ask them politely to stop doing so.
Signage to be updated
Matt Kitchin, General Manager at Southern Vectis told OnTheWight this morning,
“I can confirm that our conditions of carriage have been updated to include advising customers not to use electronic cigarettes.
“We will update our signage on bus as part of a more general refresh of posters that is ongoing and posters will be displayed on bus shortly informing customers of our decision.”
Lack of enforcement
The existence of the ban came to light after an OnTheWight reader got in touch, reporting his son’s distress at finding people smoking e-cigarettes on a bus last week.
He told OnTheWight,
“The driver apparently did nothing to stop them.
“The vapour from people smoking ecigaettes contains nicotine and my son should not have to endure breathing this in on the journey.”
The resident got in touch with Southern Vectis straight away expressing his concern, as well as writing to a number of Isle of Wight councillors over the weekend.
Staff to be reminded of ban
In response to this news, Matt Kitchin told OnTheWight,
“I think the issue here was that on this occasion the driver was unaware of the electronic cigarette being used during the journey as they do not release the same odour as a traditional cigarette making them more difficult for a driver to detect when concentrating on the road ahead.”
Image: Lindsay Fox
