"Stealth" Vaping ban by Transport for London

It has been announced that the use of electronic cigarettes has been banned on all Transport for London (TfL) properties and vehicles, with passengers who flout the rules potentially facing a fine.

According to news posted in The Evening Standard, the ban came into effect in August, but was only confirmed yesterday by TfL in order to minimise the response from passengers.

Vaping has already been banned on Tube trains for some time but the changes to include all propery owned by TfL including stations, platforms and depots as well as trains and buses.

The new rules state: "For safety reasons, on our buses and trains and in our bus and Underground stations you must not smoke or use an electronic cigarette ('vape').

“You may be prosecuted for disobeying these requirements."

We are not sure what the safety reasons are and will update if we receive any feedback from TfL.  If it is due to battery safety does this mean that a ban on phones, laptops and tablets could be in the pipeline?

Jill Collis, Director of Health, Safety and Environment for TfL, said: “The full inclusion was brought in this August to remove potential for confusion and allow staff to approach any customer either smoking or using an Electronic Smoking Device with confidence, ensuring that the No Smoking ban is fully enforced.

"This would mitigate any residual potential fire risk and reduce the potential for staff assault by providing clarity and consistency in the treatment of all customers using our services.”

Dave Junglist

Journalist at POTV

View Articles

Dave Junglist is co-owner of Planet of the Vapes and has been vaping since 2015.  He spent his early years with his head in a bass bin and was a very committed and experienced smoker.  He had his first cigarette at the age of 13 and just knew it was for him.  He did stop briefly with the aid of patches but reverted quickly and became a ‘secret’ smoker, working hard to keep his weak will from the attention of his family.  Vaping made an honest man of him and for this he is forever thankful. He has been involved in websites since completing a degree in Environmental Science in the late nineties.  At that time there was pretty much no contact with computers but on joining the regular workforce and deciding that the world-wide-web was the future he blagged his first job as a web designer and never looked back. As you would expect from a junglist, Dave likes his beats and is most comfortable when the bass is wobbly.