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ASH Daily News

29 November 2000

Headlines
Tobacco smuggling at record level
'Crushed'
Pub chief slams 'Stone Age' working conditions for staff

Full Text

'Tobacco smuggling at record level '

There is an extensive article in Guardian's G2 on tobacco smuggling. The
article by Kevin Maguire reports that, 'Customs officers expect to seize a
record 2bn smuggled cigarettes this year as organised gangs using giant
containers increasingly take over an illegal trade once dominated by
bootleggers and white van man.'
The article adds, 'The number of smuggled cigarettes captured at ports has
already soared above the 1.3bn uncovered in 1999, according to customs
sources, with container fraud accounting for an estimated three-quarters of
those detected. Seizures have risen from 32m barely five years ago to the
current level and some senior figures in customs suspect they are only
stopping a tenth of the smuggled cigarettes flooding into Britain.'

Source: The Guardian, 29 November 2000
Link: http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,404176,00.html

'Crushed'

The Sun provides coverage of the fact that Customs are crushing over 500
vehicles a month that are being seized in connection with tobacco and
alcohol smuggling.

Source: The Sun, 29 November 2000

Pub chief slams 'Stone Age' working conditions for staff

The Publican provides comprehensive coverage of Tim Martin, chief executive
of J.D. Wetherspoons. Mr Martin in a keynote speech to the Publican
conference, last week, said, "The pub has been in the Stone Age when it
comes to the way it treats is people. We are embarrassed about what we pay
our staff." Mr Martin added, "The pub industry has got to change".

Source: The Publican, 27 October 2000


Karl Brookes
Action on Smoking and Health
102 Clifton Street
London
EC2A 4HW
Tel: +44 (0)20 7739 5902
Fax: + 44 (0)20 7613 0531
http://www.ash.org.uk