Home / Media Room / News / ASH Daily News / ASH Daily News for 20 December 2007

ASH Daily News for 20 December 2007

Pensioner is killed by cigarette blaze

A pensioner from Stockwell, London, has died in a blaze thought to have been started by a cigarette.

Firefighters from Brixton and Clapham who went into the burning flat to tackle the flames discovered the pensioner's body. Paramedics declared the man dead at the scene and police have not officially confirmed his identity.

One resident, who did not want to be named, said: "I would often see him around and about and he would say hello."

The victim was well known in the area and by Monday a floral tributes had already been left on the landing.

Police confirmed they would not be investigating the incident and a spokesman said: "The incident is being treated as non-suspicious and was believed to have been started by a cigarette."

Fire investigators are examining the cause of the blaze but in the wake of the death have urged people to take extra care over Christmas.

A London Fire Brigade spokesman said: "Around 40 per cent of all deaths in accidental house fires are caused by smoking material. Death from careless disposal of cigarettes is one of the main causes of fatalities in accident house fires."

Source: South London icnetwork, 18 December 2007
Link: http://tinyurl.com/2oq6wj

Bands sue rolling stone and Reynolds Tobacco 

Two bands which featured in Rolling Stone magazine’s “Indie Rock Universe,” an illustrated insert sandwiched between music themed Camel cigarette adverts, are suing the publication and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.

The bands, based in Oakland, California and Toronto, filed a lawsuit in Alameda County Superior Court, alleging unauthorised use of the bands’ names for commercial advantage and unfair business practices.

The adverts featured in Rolling Stone promoted Camel’s “The Farm: Free Range Music” campaign to support independent record labels."

Christopher Hunt, an attorney representing the two bands said, “Many bands are angered and offended by what occurred."

Hunt and his clients are asking for class-action status, which, if granted, would allow members from more than 150 bands featured in the advert to join the suit.

However a spokesman for Rolling Stone said, “The ‘Indie Rock Universe’ feature is not an advertisement. It was conceived and created exclusively by the editorial department, without any review by or consultation with any advertiser.”

The bands claim that the aim of the adverts were to use the artists’ names as a “credibility generating engine within the advertising apparatus designed to deliver commercial goods.”

This is not the first suit to arise from the adverts which ran in the magazine’s Nov. 15 anniversary issue. At least seven states have filed lawsuits against R.J. Reynolds alleging that it violated the terms of a landmark 1998 settlement between 46 states and the tobacco industry.

Source: Journalnow, 20 December 2007
Link: http://tinyurl.com/2mwhgk

Cigarette smuggler jailed

A 29 year Latvian National has been sentenced to 30 months in prison and deportation at the end of his sentence, after attempting to smuggle over 2.8 million illegal cigarettes into the UK hidden in pallets of cat food.

Kaspars Masjulis, an international lorry driver was stopped by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) officers on Saturday 9 June 2007 at the Nordic Terminal, Immingham. He had arrived on the early morning ferry from Gothenburg in Sweden.

David Gostelow HMRC's spokesperson said "HMRC will not hesitate to pursue those who commit this type of offence so that they can be effectively prosecuted by the Revenue & Customs Prosecution Office. A vital part of HMRC's work is to protect the interests of honest shopkeepers by preventing commercial smuggling and the onward transport and sale of illegal cigarettes."

Officers examined Masjulis's trailer and found 26 pallets of cat food. The majority of the pallets were built up so that they formed coffin style concealments surrounded by boxes of cat food. At a casual glance they appeared to be full pallets of cat food, but officers discovered 108,260 cigarettes hidden within each compartment. In total approximately 2.8 million cigarettes were recovered and the duty evaded is estimated as £450,000.

Source: Government News Network, 19 December 2007
Link: http://tinyurl.com/2dmuoz