I grew up with parents who put on a firework party every year for friends and family, so do appreciate the enjoyment they can bring if used safely.

But last night I was walking two young ladies home after an evening out, one of which is nearly 8 months pregnant. We passed a group of youths setting off rockets in the street. As we walked further down the street we realised they were getting ready to launch one at us. Before we knew it a large rocket was screaming straight towards us as we ran and it exploded right beside my pregnant friend who was trying to run away from it. The explosion made her fall over….straight onto her stomach. I shouted that she was pregnant but they still caried on launching rockets at us!

I had to call an ambulance, and also the police. She was in pain and understandly very shaken up and worried. The neighbours who came out were sick of this anti-social behaviour in their area and things were very heated indeed, people were prepared to take the law into their own hands and find the youths responsible.

These were large rockets with powerful explosions. I’d hate to be a kill joy because I know they can be used safely but should fireworks be banned for public sale? Or rockets at the very least?

I hope my friend is ok, but I’ve yet to hear any more since she went off to hospital. The police were given a couple of names so I hope they manage to find the yobs that did this.

In short, yes.

Shorter. YES!

i think fireworks are cool but yobs are twunts.

as an aside, anyone who tries to blow up parliament should be feted as a hero not have their effegy ceremoniously torched every bonfire night.

Same problem as always though. Do you deprive the masses due to the actions of a few brain dead f**tards?

withnailed!

No fireworks shouldn’t be banned – but selling them to the public should either be removed or tightened up far more than it is now…that is inexcusable and I hope your friend is ok…but no fireworks shouldn’t be banned…

(ex-pyrotechnician (or pyro-maniac as my mates called me!))

When I was younger (alot younger) I had a rocket thrown at me. Fortunately I escaped most of the blast but did spend some time in a burns unit with my head bandaged up. More like a mummy than Guy Fawkes 🙂 So I don’t really see the need for the general public to be able to buy these explosives. Go to a proper show and make a night of it.

Yes in Britain, no in civilisationon the continent

Pretty much what DickBarton said +1

I grew up in Ireland in the 70s and 80s. Unsuprisingly enough when you think about it, fireworks were illegal. I guess you couldn’t have explosives on general sale when a proportion of the population liked to make bombs and kill people. Even those French banger things (the red tubes with a fuse, so called because we had to smuggle them in from school tours to France) were illegal.

I can still remember the first fireworks display I saw. It was in my late teens. We were transfixed by it.

But now, I go and see fireworks and it’s just a bit of an “Oh…” moment. The fireworks arms race is over. There are only what, 3 or 4 colours available? The ones you buy for home use are beyond shit tbh.

So yes to organised displays. No to any old yob being able to get hold of them.

I’d rather ban yob scum.

When I was at school the local newsagent used to sell us bangers. We would throw them at each other, up trees and treat like like popping caps. It’s a wonder no one got injured or worse. I say ban them, the ones you get at shops are tosh compared to the ones at displays.

yes yes yes.. sale of fireworks to the general public isn’t viable in modern british society..
I’m not overly timid when it comes to walking the streets at night.. but around november the 5th it’s a bloody nightmare..
the public have no need of fireworks.. the poor display that you can put on in your garden is next to pointless.. your kids won’t miss it to any great extent..
there is absolutely no call for hormonal tipsy teenagers to be roaming the streets discharging explosive incendiary devices..

Do you deprive the masses due to the actions of a few brain dead f**tards?

you’re lacking a sense of proportion here.. get a fooking grip lad

Fireworks don’t have to be used be yobs to be problematic. Wildlife and domestic animals suffer for what seems like months at this time of year from their fear of fireworks. People get injured even when not acting like arses. Round here the place ends up littered with fireworks debris. Should be prosecuted for littering….

Then taking into account the anti-social use problem, and considering on the opposite side of the scales the amount of pleasure derived from fireworks, there is no way they should be on sale.

If I were king I’d ban them tomorrow. And deal with the yobs by turning the Isle of Wight into a penal colony of no return.

This is a annual question, should they be banned?
The problem isn’t with the fireworks but the people who buy them.
The same as car’s, gun’s,alcohol, this forum, it’s not the product itself but the person using it.
The majority of fireworks are sold and used correctly, it’s just a few in the minority that ruin it for the rest, look at the ban on hand guns there were a few instances of incorrect use, but by banning them it affected a much larger audience.
Rockets are a lot of people’s favourite firework, but you do have the added problem of the stick, which can cause it’s own problems with where it falls.
I think a lot of the problem is the seasonal sellers who arn’t as careful who they sell there products to as the year round retailers as, they want to shift there stock as quick and as profitable as possiable, as they normally only have a temporary license to sell fireworks and not the licensed storage requirments to keep them until next year.
A tightening of the rules and regs for sellers as well as maybe making the age to buy them 21 may help.

Taking fireworks away from public sale would benefit myself as i’m also a pyrotechnician, but I don’t thinks it’s the answer, as there are rouge companies in the professional arena, and these would increase with a public ban.
As for banning them all together, i’m against that.

I dont think they should be banned because of the following theft, which might move the gene pool in the right direction in Berkshire:

Thames Valley Police is warning the public to be vigilant after fireworks were stolen from a warehouse on Thursday 21st October. The value of fireworks is thought to be in the region of £5,000 but the exact quantity and types are unknown.

The fireworks stolen are professional fireworks, so we are very concerned about the theft from a public safety point of view. The fireworks are designed for use by trained professionals and they are used in large displays and never sold for retail.

The nature of some of the fireworks taken, called aerial shells are that they are designed to be launched out of metal cylinders, propelling them into the air with only a six second fuse.
They should have a safety radius of around 100 metres – so could have fairly dire consequences in an average garden.

The beauty of most profesional fireworks is the fuses burn very very quickly they could be in for one hell of a shock, if a mine o6 inch shekk or similar was to explode in there face

firewoks are hugely popular in china which probably explains why pandas can’t concentrate on getting it on with each other.

i’ve changed my position here, ban fireworks save pandas.

QUOTE: trailmonkey – Member
firewoks are hugely popular in china which probably explains why pandas can’t concentrate on getting it on with each other.

i’ve changed my position here, ban fireworks save pandas. UNQUOTE.

If the pandas changed their position now and again, there might be a few more of them. 😛

what happened to you and your friends is clearly not great, but u don’t ban something just because some scumbags can do harm with it.

Are you going to ban cars just because the odd chav rags them round an estate? While you are at it, you could also ban the sale of dogs, spray paint, solvents, hand tools of any kind, knives, cataputs, air guns, glue etc etc etc.

No they shouldn’t be banned

chavs should be banned

we can’t go around banning everything that could potentially cause harm, whats the point of living if everything is nice and clean and safe?

its a tradition, and a long one

have a look at the fun they have with fireworks in Mexico and China, ours are tame in comparison

It’s the user of the item, not the item itself. Very much like these poor kids that get attacked by dogs like Staffies and Akitas. Just because something can or has caused injury it shouldn’t be banned – the walking brain cell masquerading themselves as a reasonable person should be punished.

Anyway, I’m all up for the police being able to give these little scrotes causing aggro for so many people a good battering. They’ll think a bit more carefully about their actions in future.

Yes, they should be for organised shows or you should have a licence to buy them.

devon roadie hope your friend is ok.

My friend has contacted me today to say she is out of hospital and the baby is ok, she’s bruised and shaken up. The police have someone in custody.

Why should the public have a use for these large rockets? Whilst they weren’t display standard they were still bloody powerful. It’s always the rockets and bangers that they mess around with.

Last year here in Devon a mother died and her son only just survived after some youths put a firework through their letterbox

Yes ban them!!

And whilst we are at it ban anything that gives this bland nation any possibility of ever gaining an identity other than being an ill informed island full of fat, tattoed, angry, pound shop loving dental shy idiots!

Ban Christmas, ban pancake day, ban harvest celebrations, ban the wearing of poppies and anything that celebrates war!, ban may day celebrations and the burning of effigies.

Let’s make ourselves even blander than we already are as a nation!

Or start tackling the real problem!!

If you invented them today, what would be the chance you’d be able to put them on sale?

“I’ve come up with a new product. It’s a rocket that explodes”.

“No problem, we’ll sell them in newsagents”.

I can’t see why people buy them. They’re shit, dangerous and you can go to a public display and see something 10 times better. They also cause far more misery and injury to people and animals than they do pleasure.

Another vote for banning them here.

Brack, what’s the ‘real’ problem?

Good to hear your friend and baby is ok.

Undecided on a ban. They certainly need a lot tighter controls.

Given the amount of restrictions on other items, and total ban on certain volatile ingredients in others (eg weedkillers) it is slightly strange that self propelled exploding devices are on sale at my local petrol station/supermarket/newsagent

Tackling the idiots that are ruining this country!

There’s a fraction of them let off by kids then there was just a few years ago now they increased the age limit on them. Even those that do still get a hold of them do foolish tricks like that, most just set them off in the air. They’re also a lot tamer then they were not so long ago, very much tamer.

So no they shouldn’t be.

Anyway same time next year for the same discussion?

Do you deprive the masses due to the actions of a few brain dead f**tards?

you’re lacking a sense of proportion here.. get a fooking grip lad

Really? I think you have him mixed up with the OP.

I hope they catch these chavs and give them a beating, but that’ll never happen.

Fireworks shouln’t be banned!

There need to be tougher controls as to who can sell them.

Perhaps even prison sentences for those who allow fireworks into the hands of minors (including those who have bought them legitimately).

It’s distressing to hear about the out of control ferrel kids who roam the streets terrorizing others, so seriously, a good beating is what they need. This is the only thing which will make them think twice.

My friend has contacted me today to say she is out of hospital and the baby is ok, she’s bruised and shaken up. The police have someone in custody.

Well that’s brilliant news. Can’t be bothered with the rest of this argument. That was the only bit I was concerned about. Thank **** mum and baby are safe.

At the risk of being labelled a miserable git I think as a minimum you should need a licence to buy fireworks. Better still, save the bureaucracy and just ban them from general public sale.

Are there any statistics in the UK for injury caused by fireworks?

In Denmark where im from, New year is where fireworks is the big thing, and nothing i have ever seen over here comes close to the amounts fired off (maybe exept the Jean Michel Jarre concert in docklands many years ago)

First thing in January you always get the stats for how many eyes, fingers etc which have been blown off by firework, and its quite sobering. Usually its the muppets that fire if off that loose their fingers etc, but i have been sat in A&E right after new year when a 5 year old boy was brought in with a face blown up by some fireworks which he had picked up in the street and it then exploded, boy lost his eye. That would be enough for me to say Yes ban the sale to the public.

Really? I think you have him mixed up with the OP.

no.. I don’t think that I do.. please explain to me how the right to let off consistantly disappointing shop bought fireworks for your uninpressed.. cold and disappointed kids out weighs the need to stop little twunts from throwing them round the streets every year..

go on.. explain..

I think there are some very bland and frustrated people arguing the case for the sale of fireworks here..

what’s the point of them?
really?

Let’s make ourselves even blander than we already are as a nation!

‘but but.. what about my freedom to express myself with drab explosives ferchristsakes!!!! you can take my soul but ye’ll nivir tek ma fireworks’

you’re looking for your inspiration in all the wrong places if you believe this country is bland..

**** off and get a life

The same as car’s, gun’s,alcohol, this forum, it’s not the product itself but the person using it

I think the use of apostrophes should be banned, or at least controlled to those qualified to use them….

And on the firework argument, having recently moved down under, it’s a bit sad not being able to get them for bonfire night.

How about tackling the cause, not the symptom? As the yobs clearly didn’t care, what if they were to throw a stone at you and your mate? Ban stones???

Much simpler to deal with the causes of antisocial behaviour than to ban everything that could possibly be used to aid it.

what’s the point of them you?
really?

Fixed it for you. If you can’t see that the issue is the moron using it, and not the user, then perhaps your level of intellect is nearer to theirs than you’d like to think?

please explain to me how the right to let off consistantly disappointing shop bought fireworks for your uninpressed.. cold and disappointed kids out weighs the need to stop little twunts from throwing them round the streets every year..

Please explain to me why the lack of will / ability to educate said twunts from throwing them should remove the enjoyment of the many?

Fixed it for you. If you can’t see that the issue is the moron using it, and not the user, then perhaps your level of intellect is nearer to theirs than you’d like to think?

I see that issue extraordinarily clearly.. and there is really no need to come out with direct insults insinuating that my existence is completely pointless.. are you 7?
I’m saying that no-one really enjoys you setting them off.. they are a bit shit and it’s just silly men playing with wizzbangs.. your kids aren’t ever gonna increase their respect for you with your annual derring do..

As an alternative to banning the sale of these pointless objects to the public.. you’re talking about educating a huge swathe of the population that think you’re a dick and would like nothing more than to force air bomb repeaters into your eye-socket because they honestly and quite rightly in their eyes cannot comprehend the point of your existence..

talking about them as a lower intelligence sub species proves the point entirely..

‘the joy of many’ that you speak about is sentimental bollo.. the total lack of ability to educate these kids is fact
do the equation
FFS

alcohol is dangerous
cars are dangerous

and you never get me on one of them bike things, they’re lethal