20/03/2009 - Bar owner loses smoking ban case
A Blackpool bar owner who has lost a second High Court battle over his refusal to implement the smoking ban said the result could bankrupt him.
In spite of the ban, which was introduced in July 2007, Del-boy's Sports bar owner Hamish Howitt continued letting customers smoke inside the venue.
During a previous High Court hearing he was informed that it was his duty under health and licensing laws to stop customers smoking in his bar and treat it as a crime.
In March 2007, the 57-year-old tried to challenge his conviction, which he received for letting someone smoke in his bar, at Lancaster and Preston Magistrates' Court, saying that the ban violated his human rights.
For breaking the smoking ban he was fined £1,950 and ordered to pay £2,015 legal costs.
He told the judges the ban could bankrupt him and when he asked if he could take his legal battle before the European Court of Human Rights, Lord Justice Richards said: "You can always go to Strasbourg, but there is no more you can do here."
Copyright © Press Association 2009
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