A volunteer at a charity shop says he was told 'go home and never come back' because he smoked a cigarette outside.
David Laing has been helping out at the British Heart Foundation shop on Peel Street for 18 months and wanted to help because his mother died from a heart condition three years ago.
David, 45, from Wharncliffe Street, started volunteering whilst unemployed.
"I've enjoyed helping out and really thought I was doing something useful," he said.
But this week as David took a break he stepped outside the shop and lit up a cigarette as he stood on the pavement.
He says a visiting area official from the charity came outside and told him to stub out his fag.
David says he refused pointing out he was on a public footpath.
"At that point he told me to go home and never come back- to be honest I was shocked, angry and upset."
"As far as I am concerned I have done nothing wrong, I was in a public place."
Diane Locke, of the British Heart Foundation, said it has strict smoking guidelines for employees and volunteers.
"In this situation, and in line with our policy on smoking, we asked a volunteer on a number of occasions not to smoke outside our store but he refused and we had no other option but to ask the volunteer to leave."
© 2013 Barnsley Chronicle Ltd
He wants to stop moaning no wonder he doesn't have a job, volunteer or not if you are told to do summat or not to do summat you do as your told. Nice chance you have of getting a real job now mate
I agree i think its wrong .at the end of the day he was a volunteer having a break, they have no rights to tell him not to smoke in a public place in his own break time.. he was doing it out of the kindness of his own heart..pardon the pun .and im not saying this as a smoker as i dont smoke myself.
well i think its disgusting what they have done the man was helping them out they want to be thankful for what he done for them not many would work without pay think they just been petty and stupid i bet some of there other staff smoke oh yes and as far as im concerned he was outside so they saying i cant smoke outside there shop dont think so smokeing ban is indoors not out doors no wounder charity shops are crying out for donations and people not offering jeez whats this world comeing to rant over
Diane Locke needs to wake up and smell the coffee, oluntary workers now enjoy the same rights as people who are employed in paid employment, all of whom are entitled to breaks.
No one can command what happens on the pavement outside their premises lest it be illegal.
True volunteers are hard to come by as many of the people working in charity shops are sent there by the job centre or the courts, Shame on you for your intollerance
More political correct nonsense from a so called charity official. Disgraceful. Thank God we can all choose which particular genuine charity to support.
Everyone has gone nuts about smoking bans its fact the law says no smoking in premises u can freely smoke outside anywhere
When I pass a BHF charity shop I will make sure that I light a cigarette and stay outside smoking for a while.
Not great for people having to walk through smoke to get into the shop! If a condition of employment (paid or not) is that you don't smoke outside the shop - then you don't smoke outside the shop. End of!!
Wow, sacking the unpaid, by a charity ????? Hmmmm
As an employer I prefer not to employ smokers as they are generally lazier and less committed than non-smokers. I also cannot understand why someone who claims to be upset about losing a family member to heart disease can still go ahead and smoke! I think the charity were quite right. Hopefully Mr Laing can now do something that would really make his late mother proud like stopping smoking.
Next time I'm in Barnsley, I'm gonna chain-smoke outside this 'charity' shop for an hour...fascists.
Diane locke needs a rocket up her 'glutimus maximus' for this! This is clear signal that the BHF are in opposition to those who choose to smoke, the majority of which happen to be of the "Working Classes", the majority of which is where the unemployment queues stem from. I would take this action as a clear sign that the BHF don't want any 'volunteers' unless they meet a certicritieria.
And as it is not illegal to stand on a pavement and smoke Diane Locke is totally out of order. Interesting point-had the gentleman been on the other side of the road, but still opposite the BHF shop, would she have pronounced the same sentence? Little Hitlers and their want to impose their ideas on others-no wonder this country is rapidly sliding downhill !
I wonder how much Dianne Locke and the area official claim in wages from this charity. I think I would probably be more offended if I found out rather than seeing a volunteer helper smoking outside in the street.
Given that heart disease is the biggest killer of never smoking males over 50 and never smoking females over 60, shouldn't charities such as this one be concerned more with preventing/curing heart disease rather than being complicit in a social control experiment to eliminate smokers?
Only anti-smoker nutters (not to be mistaken for tolerant non-smokers) will think that sacking a keen unpaid volunteer is a good move - stupidity if anything!
They don't want help - don't give them any - or any money either!
Not really a good advert for BHF is it if you stand in their shoes for a moment. Smoking is the number one cause of heart disease and therefore heart attacks. How do you think other staff may have felt seeing a colleague going out smoking in full view when they are trying to represent and support disease prevention. Well done for making a stand for your mission as a charity. I comment as a health care professional in both coronary and intensive care and see the damage and consequences of this disease every day.
This was the 1st time that I had been told not to smoke outside the shop plus there were other volunteers there it's because I spoke up
What an absolute disgrace and discrimination in its purest form! In line with the Human Rights Act (HA) David should take the BHF to court - do they also refuse help to smokers?? As for the comment by Nigel, how stupid!!! I run my own business, work 15 to 18 hours a day, 6 days a week. Some of those who work with me are smokers and are some of the hardest working people I know - perhaps you need to look over your predjudice Nigel!!! I am so angry about this, together with Nigel's comments I could spit and I call for a boycott on both buying from and giving to BHF shops - and if I could find out what sort of business Nigel runs then from him too! Bigotry kills more people every day world wide than anything else, you sad people.
The British Heart Foundation and Cancer Research Uk both donated millions to ASH to bring about the total indoor smoking ban which has left possibly millions of people, particularly the elderly and those not prepared to stand outside pubs in the cold, without any social life at all.
These people are the nanny state don't use their shops and
stop donating to them !
What dont people understand about if you are under employment, pid or unpaid and you get told not to smoke outside your place you work, you just dont. especially after several times. Also that public footpath is so close to the enterance it must be unpleasant to shoppers.
Disgraceful have we become a society where others believe they can impose their will on others and deprive other persons of doing their bit for a good cause, because of their own misguided brainwashing, second hand smoke is as harmful as water, inside never mind outside, this social engineering programme (the smoking ban) has resulted in thousands of people losing their jobs in the hospitality industry and not saved anyones health and was decided by the WHO backed up by the EU with no epidemiological evidence that SHS is harmful, HSE could never have incurred a smoking ban neither could the OHSA in America on harm. Do not donate to these people it is like donating to a German party in history.
I agree with the fact that he should have been 'sacked', yes he was a volunteer, but like a paid member of staff he is the 'face' of the company whilst he is donating his time, thus he needs to abide by the rules and regulation guidelines, which he would have been given when he first joined as a volunteer, therefore I have no sympathy for him, he 'broke' a rule thus he has to abide the consequences. Though I will give him his dues he was doing it for a personal reason ( even more of a reason though I would have thought to abide by the rules whilst you were volunteering).
This is for Greg Burrows. While I agree with most of your posting I do resent that German party comment. I am a smoker and we fighting for our rights in this Country also. There was no need to throw that last remark in.
Oh and yes I am German.
What you don't understand there is no written rule or official paper work to day that smoking is not allowed out side of the shop
Some charities don't deserve volunteers. Couldn't they simply have had a quiet word with this man instead of "sacking" him??
Rules are rules whether you are a volunteer or an employee. If he was asked several times and then refused, they did right to send him home. After all, what does he think he is doing to his body by smoking in the first place.