Helen Jones

Labour Party | Warrington North

THE MISUSE OF FIREWORKS

With the summer months coming to an end I have received letters from constituents,  as I have done in previous years,  who are concerned with the sale and misuse of fireworks.  This issue is not just one of concern around September,  October and November any more.  Fireworks used to be a fun event,  but now they are let off recklessly,  at any time of the day or night throughout the year and are causing enormous distress to people,  particularly our pensioners,  and their pets,  some of which have been deliberately targeted resulting in horrendous injuries.  

Fireworks can be used to celebrate special occasions,  both publicly and privately,  and are often a spectacular and impressive sight.  So a complete ban is not the solution. However, there can be little doubt that their increased availability throughout the year has caused problems.  They are often falling into the hands of those who misuse them.  It is a problem often experienced here in Warrington and I sympathise with people who complain that fireworks are let off in the early hours of the morning as it is something I have experienced myself on a number of occasions throughout the summer.

I raised the issue in Parliament back in 1999 and suggested that a restriction on firework sales to individuals to just a short time prior to 5 November might be solution.  I believe the situation has deteriorated since then. 

A call for restrictions has cross Party support in Parliament and my colleague Barry Gardiner MP will be presenting a petition to the Prime Minister in October calling for the law to be reformed in the following ways:

• to require all public firework displays to be controlled by licensed pyrotechnicans;
• to restrict the times of the year fireworks can be bought;
• to restrict the times of the day fireworks can be set off;
• and to license all vendors of fireworks to meet strict safety criteria and to give Trading Standards the power to revoke the license of any vendor caught selling fireworks to underage children.

I know this is an issue that has raised concerns and debate in Warrington.  This has been reflected in the pages of the Guardian in the past.  However,  with the issue about to be raised with Tony Blair I would value any comments from my constituents which I can feed into the debate.

You can contact me directly at Gilbert Wakefield House, 67 Bewsey Street, WA2 7JQ or by phone 01925 232 480; by fax 01925 232 239; by e-mail jonesh@parliament.uk