THE lengths that smokers are prepared to go to indulge their need for a cigarette never ceases to amaze. Now, workers at Little Lever plastics' factory Lorival are in dispute with bosses over a smoking ban.

Anyone caught smoking within the works' boundary will be instantly dismissed, and workers complain that this is unfair.

Lorival bosses introduced the ban after a transitional period, offering to provide a smoking room. This was turned down, though when management issued the "smoke elsewhere and you're sacked" ultimatum.

The whole thing may smack of a stern headmaster having a school crack-down, until you realise that the factory has had several fires in recent years, one serious.

The firm is not "high risk" in fire brigade terms, but there is bound to be an amount of sympathy with the bosses whose right it is to impose a smoking ban. The fact that workers appear prepared to see their jobs go up in smoke for the sake of a quick fag makes little sense in the current employment atmosphere.

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