It was very good of Louise McKinlay, Leader of Brentwood Borough Council, to shuffle her appointments today to make time to come and talk to us at Phoenix. The main point of Louise’s visit was to talk about concerns raised in the area about the Crossrail project, but we also found time to talk briefly about the subject making the news in the area this week – Councillors case loads. You can hear our chat again here – Louise McKinlay – Crossrail

Louise McKinlay at Phoenix FM

Also on the show today – C2C and Greater Anglia have decided to ban e-cigarettes from trains and stations.

This seems a strange decision to me for two reasons, firstly these e-cigarettes do not emit smoke, just a little harmless vapour, so what harm is it likely to do to other passengers? If there is no harm to other passengers why ban it? Secondly, I think that anything that helps people to avoid smoking actual cigarettes should be encouraged. Nicotine is a highly addictive drug and addicted people need all the help they can get to get off it.

I spoke to one regular commuter who said that she has experienced someone using an e-cigarette nearby on a train. She said it was smelly and unpleasant, but if we were to ban things on that basis, then we wouldn’t allow many of the passengers on the train!

I invited representatives from both C2C and Greater Anglia to appear on the programme but so far there has been no response from Greater Anglia. C2C sent me this statement –

We are currently updating our “no smoking” posters to reflect changes in technology and this policy includes electronic cigarettes. As is common with many other train operators, shopping centres and other public spaces, the same rules apply to electronic cigarettes as they do normal cigarettes. This is because:

 (a)    our staff and customers would find it hard to distinguish between the two

(b)   some electronic cigarettes still expel nicotine into the air

(c)    it may make some other customers feel uneasy if they’re in close proximity

Well (a) I disagree (b) so what? nicotine on its own is relatively harmless and not likely to be in sufficient quantity to get anyone else addicted. (c) there’s nothing to get uneasy about.

If you have an opinion on this issue why not contact me on the link below or tweet me @bobsimps

Finally it’s thought that the big stink in Billericay on Wednesday was caused by a delivery of bark to Waitrose. Mystery over!

Off to Paris next week. Back the following Thursday. I love what I do!