For putting up handwritten ‘No Smoking’ posters in her pub, while the official signs were yet to arrive, a licensee in North Wales has been taken to court and ordered to pay a fine of nearly £300!

Lemm had apparently put up handwritten ‘No Smoking’ signs at her pub, since she had not received the officials signs.

Inspectors who visited the Judge and Jury pub in Colwyn Bay, North Wales, told the pub owner Dawn Lemm that she had violated regulations which necessitate that ‘No Smoking’ signs should be rectangular, and their shortest side should be at least 6.3in in length.

In addition, the inspectors also pointed out that the home-made ‘No Smoking’ signs that Lemm, 39, had put up at her pub did not bear ‘a graphic representation of a burning cigarette enclosed in a red circle with a red bar which crosses the cigarette symbol.’

Admitting that she had put up the hand-made ‘No Smoking’ signs in her pub, while waiting for the officials signs to arrive, Lemm acknowledged at Llandudno magistrates court that she had failed to ensure proper signs were displayed.

However, about the £150 fixed penalty that has been imposed with £120 costs and £15 victims’ surcharge, Lemm said that the decision was “ridiculous” and declined to pay the penalty!