Calls for restrictions on firework sales

Calls are growing for severe restrictions or even outright bans on the sale of fireworks following another chaotic Bonfire Night.
Campaigner Linda Fisher with a poster encouraging people to remember veterans when buying and setting off fireworksCampaigner Linda Fisher with a poster encouraging people to remember veterans when buying and setting off fireworks
Campaigner Linda Fisher with a poster encouraging people to remember veterans when buying and setting off fireworks

Several campaigns and petitions have appeared saying it needs to be much harder to buy sparklers, rockets, Roman candles and other such devices and they should only be used on November 5.

In the borough ex-serviceman Royston Brett and former council officer Linda Fisher want restrictions to help veterans, saying the constant loud bangs and explosions remind those who have been in conflicts of a firefight.

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Mr Brett wants firework use to be restricted to just the one night a year while Ms Fisher has been touring supermarkets and other stores selling fireworks in Leigh and Atherton asking people to be mindful of ex-personnel.

A garden shed on Dovedale Road in Landgate burning after being hit by a stray firework. Picture posted on Facebook by a local residentA garden shed on Dovedale Road in Landgate burning after being hit by a stray firework. Picture posted on Facebook by a local resident
A garden shed on Dovedale Road in Landgate burning after being hit by a stray firework. Picture posted on Facebook by a local resident

Golborne resident Mr Brett said: “I suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and around bonfire night it is really bad. I have nightmares, I don’t sleep very well and I return to conflicts I have been in.

“I would like to see a law limiting the use of fireworks to November 5 and fines for those who set them off at any other time, with the money going to veterans’ charities.”

Ms Fisher added: “I’m not anti-fireworks or against organised events but people may not realise they may be next to someone with post-traumatic stress disorder and I want to make them more aware.”

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The national Firework Abatement Group (FAB) is going further and a petition to ban the sale of fireworks to the public has currently received more than 117,000 signatures.

A garden shed on Dovedale Road in Landgate burning after being hit by a stray firework. Picture posted on Facebook by a local residentA garden shed on Dovedale Road in Landgate burning after being hit by a stray firework. Picture posted on Facebook by a local resident
A garden shed on Dovedale Road in Landgate burning after being hit by a stray firework. Picture posted on Facebook by a local resident

Campaigner Mike Old started the petition after a missing border collie disappeared because he was spooked by a firework and his body washed up on a beach.

Wiganer Gary Hart and his family realised the danger of fireworks this Bonfire Night when a stray one caused £2,000 of damage, including destroying a garden shed.

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