WINDSOR, Ontario, Oct. 8 (UPI) -- A Canadian truck driver was stopped on the road and issued a $305 ticket for allegedly breaking Ontario's law forbidding smoking in the workplace, police said.
The unidentified 48-year-old tractor-trailer driver was stopped after an Ontario Provincial Police officer claimed he saw him smoking while driving near London, Ontario, the Windsor Star reported.
OPP Constable Shawna Coulter told the Star it's the first time officers from that detachment issued a ticket to smoking truckers under the law that came into effect May 31, 2006. However, she said about 10 similar tickets have been given to taxi drivers.
Various other long-haul drivers interviewed by the newspaper were critical of the police action.
"It's ridiculous. That's his environment, that's his home, he's by himself," said driver Larry Jesperson.
Trucker Brad Weber agreed.
"He's not affecting anybody. If there's nobody else in the truck with him, then he's done nothing wrong," he said. "I could see if there were kids in the vehicle, I could see it if there was another non-smoking driver in the vehicle."
