TALLINN - Shipping group Tallink has denied a newspaper report that it allows customers to freely smoke in the bars on board its ships.
The Postimees daily carried a report July 24 saying that one customer had filed a complaint with the Estonian Social Affairs Ministry about smoking on board a Tallink vessel and Andrus Lipandi of the ministry, said that a smoking ban applied as ships sailing under the Estonian flag are considered Estonian territory too.
However, Tallink's sales and marketing director Peter Roose told The Baltic Times that there was no substance to the story: "Smoking is permitted in certain areas, but not where food is served," he said. "There is an allocated smoking section in the bar which is specially designed so that we can control the airflow and ventilation. There is no smoking in corridors, communal areas or anywhere where it is not permitted. In fact we find that most passengers are very helpful about not smoking in public areas."
Roose added that he had received no complaints from passengers and that in any case, Tallink operated ships sailing under Latvian, Swedish and Finnish flags on which Estonian rules do not apply.
