‘Smoke-on-Trent’to remain lit up over legal blunder

SMOKERS can still light up in an English city’s pubs and clubs — because a bureaucratic blunder means officials are powerless to stop them.

Stoke-on-Trent has been renamed Smoke-on-Trent by mischievous publicans after council workers failed to get enforcement powers in time for the July 1 ban on smoking in enclosed public spaces.

Addicts are now flocking to the city’s 400 pubs and bars, as well as lighting up in enclosed spaces such as bus shelters, without fear of a £50 on-the-spot fine.