Shisa cafe boss fined again

Mike Keegan

September 05, 2009

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FINED Vakase Sameer

CAFE bosses who flouted the law after customers were caught smoking have been fined.

Environmental health officers and police raided Café Lounge on Wilmslow Road in Rusholme and found people smoking on the premises.

Fines

The customers were given fixed penalty fines. But when officials asked bosses for information about the business, they refused to cooperate.

Vakase Sameer, 25, was ordered to pay £592 for failing to help.

His brother Zeshan Sameer, 24, who was in charge of the café at the time of the raid, also refused to answer questions over his role and failed to attend subsequent interviews with inspectors.

As a result, he was fined £395 and was also fined £250 for failing to display a 'no smoking' sign at another branch on Wilmslow Road.

Father

Their father Mohammed Sameer, 52, who pays the business rates on the premises where the raid took place, was fined £392 for his failure to cooperate.

All three were charged with breaches of the Health Act. None of the trio was present at Manchester magistrates' court and were found guilty in their absence.

Barbara Gora, prosecuting, said: “Despite repeated requests for information over who ran the business they refused to answer.”

Deputy District Judge David Robinson said he had taken a previous offence into account.

Last year, Vakase was fined more than £2,415 after customers were found using hookah pipes at the Cafe Lounge on Scarsdale Road, Victoria Park.

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Hot Dog, Stateside (05/09/2009 at 10:36)

Who the hell do these people think they they are? throw them in jail for failing to comply with the laws of the country.What the hell is britain comming to,Its time for zero tollerance .Who is running the country.until somebody starts to control the country people like these will do whatever they want.Laws are here for everybody not just the few who want to play by their own rules..

MPs gravy train, UK (05/09/2009 at 10:41)

These guys need to realise that the law has changed and they can't ignore it. They obviously think they can and cannot even be bothered to turn up to court. A short jail sentence may focus their minds.

PW, Manchester (05/09/2009 at 11:01)

Truly a victimless 'crime'. Naturally it will enrage busybodies. Do you moaners want to be able to frequent the place without breathing in smoke fumes or something? I'm sure you don't.

The law is wrong in that it is taking away the liberties of people who want to smoke and not wish to inconvenience others. I'm not a smoker, and will not go in any smoking place, so I have no vested interests at all. Stazi/Nazi Britain. Sickening.

citycentre, manchester (05/09/2009 at 11:06)

Barbara Gora, prosecuting, said: “Despite repeated requests for information over who ran the business they refused to answer.”

Yet Wikipedia says "A defendant in a criminal trial may choose whether or not to give evidence in the proceedings. Further, there is no general duty to assist the police with their inquiries."

So if we have a right to remain silent, we can be fined for exercising it?

Hot Dog, Stateside (05/09/2009 at 11:07)

PW, Manchester
If you dont want to live in a country with laws find another country,if not comply with the laws that is why we have a country fit to live in.If we all did what we wantede it would be a third world country like some of these people want (A free for all) its nothing to do with it being a nazi state its about people complying so that we have a civilised country.

PW, Manchester (05/09/2009 at 11:20)

Hot Dog. You harp on about people breaking laws (a technicality) and I'll harp on about laws being wrong and Nazi-like. Law enforcement desperately needs to be focussed on violence and anti-social behaviour which is of epidemic proportions.

Hot Dog, Stateside (05/09/2009 at 11:24)

PW, Manchester
All laws need to be enforced from dropping litter upwards that is how you get a country fit to live in (If you are a decent citizen) If your garbage you will want to live by your own laws and not comply with laws of the land you are living in.That is why we have so much unrest and trouble.

Hot Dog, Stateside (05/09/2009 at 11:26)

Breaking the law isnt (a technicality) if that is the reason you live by god help us..Just think of all the killers and rapists we have .they have killed or raped somebody because it was just a (technicality).

Hot Dog, Stateside (05/09/2009 at 12:32)

PW, Manchester
Come on pw tell people that killers/rapists who commit these crimes are just commiting a (a technicality).These people who take on the laws of our land actually spoil the quality of life for most of us i dont want my children to live in a country where we have no law and order.But if we keep allowing these people to control our laws we might as well allow them to do what they really want .ANYTHING THEY WANT LIKE DRIVE CARS WITH NO INSURANCE AND ROB YOUR HOMES WITHOUT ANY PROBLEMS.We need laws and people to comply to have a civilised country,but some people dont see it that way.

steve wilson (05/09/2009 at 12:53)

if they refused to comply with requests from officials can they be charged with contempt?

city centre when did we introduce the 1st amendment?

cicero, canada (05/09/2009 at 13:42)

Hot Dog, Stateside
Do us all a favour, shut up! You spout a bunch of c***.

PW, Manchester (05/09/2009 at 13:42)

Hot Dog. I'm not condoning breaking laws at all. It's not my point. I'm saying (parrot-fashion now) that this law is wrong. I am all for the anti-smoking law that prevents non-smokers like me from breathing in others' smoke. Pubs are a lot better now, for example. I'm saying that if certain individuals want to smoke in a building and by complete mutual consent, then they should be entitled to. Non-smokers will stay out of it and everyone will be happy. But busybodies couldn't tolerate that could they? They want to enforce their views and everything else on the whole population. As I say, it is Nazi-like.

Mostly Censored (05/09/2009 at 13:59)

Shut each cafe down that breaks the law, this middle eastern culture is ok in those countries but has no place in European culture, a bit like citycentre really.

Jerry Kahn, Longsite (05/09/2009 at 14:09)

So they think they are above the law yet again. Close it down and really teach them a lesson. This is Great Britain where we care about the health of others.

Andanotherthing, Mcr (05/09/2009 at 14:38)

I hate what this labour party has done to our society.Since they were allowed by us to take our liberties inch by inch and then the proverbial mile, very few tollerant folk like PW are left. Most non smokers were not card carring members of the stop smoking brigade before the ban, but now shout long and loud. Because they have been allowed to trample over the rights of others over this issue, they now have a taste for more.

I do not drink, should you be banned because of my objection.

citycentre, manchester (05/09/2009 at 14:47)

steve wilson

Isn't that the fifth? The wikepedia page refered to UK law, and I am sure last time I saw The Bill, someone said, "You do not have to say anything" with no mention of a fine for not doing so. Not the best source for the law i suppose, but has this "privelege" been taken away?

citycentre, manchester (05/09/2009 at 14:52)

Was there the same sense of outrage when supermarkets used to flout the Sunday trading laws in order to increase their profits?

Tobacco is ok in middle eastern culture, but not european? was it not introduced to western europe first, then spread from there?

I merely try and defend what i think of as western european freedoms, like not having to answer any and all questions posed by state officials, and not have us slip into some eastern style police state

Hot Dog, Stateside (05/09/2009 at 14:56)

cicero, canada
As usual somebody who thinks he talks for everybody? "Do us all a favour" If people break the law they need to be fined or imprisoned and if they dont comply they need arresting until they come in line with the laws of the country.I bet he wouldnt ignore the law if he lived in the arab emirates or some other isalmic country .but why do these people ignore our laws.(Because they know they can get away with it).We need to enforce our laws Fully .

Esso Blue, Manchester (05/09/2009 at 15:31)

Is there such thing as a smokeless tobacco.

tameside mark, hyde (05/09/2009 at 15:34)

im getting sick of these type of peolple,
lock them up and close down their cafe,
zero tolerance is the only answer to scum

mark

Theowolfe (05/09/2009 at 16:49)

The idea that all laws should be obeyed blindly is ludicrous. if for instance the Government passed a law that said certain individuals should wear, say a yellow star, should that law be obeyed.

During the 1700's under the Penal Laws it was against the law to educate Catholics. So were the people who ran 'scoileanna chois claí' known as Hedge Schools right or wrong?

Crumpsall-Lass, Crumpsall (05/09/2009 at 17:21)

Would smoking be banned if I started a modern smoking club? This law is nonsense and introduced by new nazis. Could you imagine if this had happened during WWII. All the soldiers who couldn't smoke their cigarette ration might wonder why they were fighting when they had the same type of government at home. This week we are remembering the 70th anniversary of the war with as much surveilance as nazi germany, citizens treated as second class like nazi germany, and treating all our citizens as if they belong to them instead of the other way around. I'd rather live in the old soviet union than in modern britain. I'd probably have a lot more freedoms.

David of Ashton, Ashton (05/09/2009 at 17:42)

Add the fines to their business rates to make sure they pay them, then if they dont they should be shut down, disgrace

thoughtful, East of Manchester (05/09/2009 at 17:52)

I have to laugh when I read PW's comments. This is not a victimless crime, there are still thousands of victims of second hand smoke, who suffer poor health and then die prematurely. You cannot control the smoke from your drug addiction, why should I as a non smoker have to breathe it in? - Oh I know the answer I have to find a place where the owner has stood up to the smoking Nazi's. Don't give me that there should be non smoking areas because I know several people like yourself who don't think that there should be areas where they cannot go without their foul pollution.
Now the law has been passed you have an option to smoke outside if you like - if you don't like that then stay indoors and don't smoke! If you need a fix so desperately that you find it impossible to sit with a drink or a meal I think you should take a serious look at just how deeply you have become addicted to this noxious weed!

salfordrat (05/09/2009 at 18:07)

Hot Dog, have you fallen on your head recently? Or did you really not understand PW when he referred to this law in this set of circumstances being a technicality? Are you one of these people who are daft enough to think that one law fits every situation? And lets get real here, Mr holier than thou - tell us all now that you have never ever broken the tiniest, teensiest law and gotten away with it?

Do you drive? Have you ever gone one mile an hour over the speed limit? Have you ever dropped a bit of litter (even by accident) and because nobody saw you, decided not to chase it down the road like a madman? Has your dog ever fouled a piece of grass and you didn't bag it and take it home? You talk about obeying every law no moatter what the situation but I am willing to bet that there is not one of your ilk who has not broken some law at some time. In fact, it would be nearly impossible not to have. Apart from that you are quite obviously an idiot.

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