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FIREWORKS AT NEW YEAR HARDLY A BRITISH TRADITION
BUT THERE'S MONEY INVOLVED
"The industry has
always had links with the MOD and the Explosives
Inspectorate, that is perhaps why we have never
been able to get proper legislation on fireworks
in this country"
(Response to "Rocket Science"
article in the Guardian January 4
page 17 by Noel Tobin,
Director of NCFS)
Firework Displays, Firework Displays,
Firework Displays, maybe its all my fault.
When I became Director of the Campaign For
Firework Safety, back in the early 1970s, I
saw the problem at first hand. Most of the
injuries to children and animals were caused by
people getting hold of fireworks at local level
and chucking them at each other. I
devised a code of conduct for organised firework
displays and it was tested at the end of that
October for a Local Authority's firework display.
It was a great success and filmed by ITN and
other news media.
MPs associated with the campaign got on to the
Home Office, and within a few months we were
invited to come down and write a National code
with the Firework makers. We did this and
that too was a success. The industry worked with
us much against their will because we wanted to
change the way fireworks were celebrated in the
UK. We wanted the firework displays but
with it a National training scheme for operators
to make it all professional. We wanted
licensed firework displays, and the licensing of
display fireworks. We wanted the whole
thing regulated, believe it or not we still come
under the 1875 Explosives Act.
We encouraged and promoted firework displays but
we did not get the legislation we needed.
Ken Livingstone MP now the mayor of London was in
agreement that displays were a better bet than
shop sales for back garden use, the injuries and
damage they caused to people particularly to
children and animals. The GLC with
Ken supported us and helped to promote the cause
and this spread like snowflakes throughout the
country.
All the attempts at regulation have either failed
or been resisted over the years. Now the
industry which back in those days of the early to
mid 1970s, when they said they did not want an
increase in firework displays have taken full
advantage of the popularity. Now there are
displays on every conceivable occasion.
Every anniversary, every concert has to be
celebrated and now the industry want to sales
period and 2 traditions.
There is no tradition of fireworks at New Year
but it seems because the Government have given
the industry a new three and a half sales period
to add to the October-November 4 week sales
period we are to have a continuous sales period
from October to December with a few unofficial
weeks in September in many areas be added, and 3
different traditions of Divali, Guy Fawkes Day,
and New Year's Eve.
The people with children and pets have been
nearly driven out of their heads and they wont
stand for it. All of us would prefer that
the fireworks industry would give up pushing
fireworks for the October-November traditions and
concentrated on New Year's Eve but that is
unlikely to happen in a fragmented industry where
everybody is grabbing everything they can, as I
witnessed at a conference of the industry for the
Millennium. In fact the more they get the
more they want with traditions and more
anniversaries to celebrate, with firework
displays going on the whole year regardless of
the noise and injury factors.
If they want more then we want the regulations
that we have fought for 30 years for of licensing
and training and a clampdown on big illegal
fireworks coming into the country. The
industry has always had links with the MOD and
the Explosives Inspectorate, that is perhaps why
we have never been able to get proper legislation
on fireworks in this country.
Over the last few days we have had many phone
call and 'e-mails' from people about the
suffering to their animals because of the
fireworks huge noise. Let us also not
forget that the most recent figures for injuries
showed a 23% increase 1056, hospital treated
injuries for injuries in October-November, with a
further 327 for December. As my cats would
say, "Let them put that in their pipes and
smoke it".
Noel
January 2001
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