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★★☆☆☆

“Smokers!!”

written by RichardP1000 on 12/08/2013

vowed a year ago never to visit Chessington again. However, I was convinced to give it another try, so my Wife and 2 young daughters visited on Sunday 11th August.

The rides seem ok - nothing special and certainly not on a par with anything Orlando offers.

My main complaint..... The smoking.

There is a clear sign at the entrance that Chessington is a no-smoking park. However.......

There are smokers EVERYWHERE...! And the staff completely ignore it!

I witnessed a middle aged lady playing one of the "ball in a bucket" - type games, holding a lit cigarette in her hand. The Chessington employee in charge of the game kept passing her the balls back, whilst she was puffing away on her cigarette. He completely ignored it...!

Elsewhere, smokers openly light up, without any fear of being approached by Chessington staff. I watched incredulously as 2 Chessington staff appeared to give directions to a group of 4 people, 3 of whom were smoking..... Nothing was said....

Now, whatever your views on smoking, it is MY choice to go to Chessington, as it advertises itself as a no-smoking park. If it allowed smoking, then I probably wouldn't go there. BUT - to advertise itself as no-smoking, then do nothing to enforce this policy is almost a breach of advertising standards.

I do not stand for people smoking outside of the designated areas - and tend to approach smokers and insist that they extinguish their cigarettes. Some adhere, some even apologise - but most become aggressive. Fortunately, I have only had to ever defend myself physically once (funnily enough - at Disneyworld, Florida, when a guy became a bit annoyed that I dared to ask him to put his cigarette out and made a move towards me as if to threaten me. Fortunately, I had both age and size on my side and put him on his backside). However, if the Chessington staff won't do anything, then it is left to people like me to take matters into their own hands - and there is then a risk of fights breaking out - as smokers really don't like being told that they're not allowed to go around poisoning other people......

So - Chessington management.... What is your stance? Please don't tell me that your staff ALWAYS approach smokers - because it simply isn't true. Ask the boy on the counter at the ball in a bucket game in Sunday at 3.45pm......

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