Some 150 traders have already joined a scheme where they will refuse to sell fireworks before October 15. The aim is to reduce the number of injuries and firework-related nuisance incidents in the run up to bonfire night.
Traders in Manchester, Bolton, Rochdale, Tameside, Stockport, Trafford and Oldham have all joined the Good Guys scheme - an initiative by trading standards and the fire service.
Good Guy retailers will refuse to sell fireworks before the October 15 start date and after November 10 and must support a code of conduct that will restrict firework nuisance. More retailers are said to be joining every day.
Rochdale council piloted the scheme last year and saw a significant reduction in complaints about firework sales and firework nuisance.
Council leader Alan Taylor said: "Last year, reports of firework nuisance were down by a third and the number of complaints about underage sales also dropped.
"We are delighted with the results and are pleased that this is now being rolled out across Greater Manchester."
Steve Beckley, assistant county fire officer, said: "Working to address the issue of sales of fireworks is one way we can help to reduce the number of incidents we attend."
A brigade spokesman added: "The initiative is a way of re-enforcing the law, which now limits the sale of fireworks from October 15 to November 10, unless a trader has a special £500 licence."
."In 2003, Manchester council encouraged traders to adopt a city-wide voluntary ban on firework sales before October 15. But when local MP Graham Stringer confronted one trader advertising fireworks in September he was greeted with abuse.
The M.E.N. has campaigned for a total ban on over-the-counter sales except for licensed and authorised displays.
It is already illegal to:
Set off fireworks after 11 pm, except on certain defined days such as 5 November (until midnight), New Year's Eve and the Chinese New Year;
Throw fireworks/let them off in the street;
Possess fireworks unless you are over 18;
Sell fireworks to minors;
Sell fireworks without being registered;
Fail to comply with storage requirements. Tweet
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Typical british way of doing anything? we need to ban the sale of all fireworks,And have organised firework displays how many more people do we have to see get hurt every year or how much property has to be destroyed for the sake of a few in our society.We live in a age where people cannot be trusted to act properly with fireworks.
Banging
How do you know Ace that people cannot be trusted with fireworks? Not all fireworks users should be tarred with the same brush because there are plenty of sensible safety-conscious people like myself who DO show consideration for other people when using fireworks;I do things safely and properly with fireworks everytime, does that mean the sensible people who don't let off fireworks after 11pm at night but do it sensibly in their backgardens can't be trusted either? Well if a sales ban and private ban go ahead I can only see;
The blackmarket trade in the sale and use of dangerous lethal potentially deadly poor quality fireworks taking over from legal sales of safe reliable BS7114 compliant retail garden and display fireworks causing more fatalities,
Internet trading in these potentially dangerous imported fireworks,
Rogue traders and criminal gangs getting hold of them and selling them willynilly to anyone who wants them,
Importation,distribution and/or sale of European/chinese fireworks with several times more explosive power than the regulated BS7114 stuff we have in the UK,
And the ever present danger that idiots could try to experiment in making their own illicit home-made fireworks from household substances and chemicals resulting in housefires/explosion/house demolition/serious burns and eye injuries/and possible death either while they're being made or set off and used.
Last year two young people were killed in firework accidents and an estimated 900 people were injured - more than 500 of whom were under 16.
Is it worth it for your one nights entertainment .and dont forget all those accidents that dont get recorded.These are official figures and they are rising year on year,kids loosing fingers and hands.lasy year i had two lads firing a commercial roman candle at traffic on the A6 stockport road "For fun" We dont live in a society where kids care any more they do things like this with no fear of authority anymore.Its time to ban fireworks totally.
Sorry Ace, you're a killjoy and want to spoil bonfire weekend and the 5th Nov for the many hundreds of sensible minded safety concious families and individuals like myself who sensibly and safely let off and enjoy fireworks every year privately whether in backgardens or at private bonfire and firework parties without incident or accident. The laws should be better enforced than they are and come down very hard on the children and their parents who cause the problems with fireworks NOT the sensible majority who don't partake in dangerous pursuits with fireworks;like I say a sales ban and private use ban will only lead to the problems I mention regarding blackmarket sales of dangerous imported fireworks/internet trading in them/importation and sale of them by roguetraders and criminal gangs etc etc etc and lead to more problems with people being seriously injured and killed by these potentially lethally dangerous poor quality import fireworks. Sorry, but unless you first crackdown on the illegal blackmarkets in dangerous imported fireworks that would take over from legal sales of safe reliable BS7114 retail garden and display fireworks and the problems that would also lead to as a result-a retail sales/private use ban on fireworks would be well nigh difficult and impossible to enforce.
Also Ace kids shouldn't be getting hold of fireworks anyway under 18 because shops who do this can lose their right to apply for licences to sell fireworks in the future anyway.
Ace should we not allow stupidity to remove itself from the gene pool?
If being a kiljoy saves children dying or getting badly burned each year thats what i am,a kiljoy and proud of it...You need to have a walk into your local casualty in the hospital on bomfire night and listen to kids screaming with pain,so if you like seeing kids being hurt mate i feel so sorry for you. and the only way to stop it is to ban fireworks being sold to the public "So be it" from Mr kiljoy ...
Anthony, Accrington,Lancs
Get your head out of the sand and smell the coffee last year trading standards took tons of illegally imported fireworks off the market but said there was many more illegal fireworks imported into britain. and fireworks are legal now,so that teory you have about substandard fireworks flooding our streets dosnt work mate they still sell dangerous fireworks and yes to children as well just like cigs and booze kids get them.
I remember having so much fun lighting then throwing bangers. It was part of what childhood was about back in the day. The bangers were low charge, relatively weak fireworks. Fireworks have become more aggresive with higher gun powder content. They are without doubt very dangerous and sales should be restricted heavily, ban the sale of them to under 21's. The drain on resources such as fire and rescue, the ambulance service and NHS is high.
Well they have been going off in my area for weeks
Why October 15th, Bonfire night is November 5th, so why sell them before 1st November ?
Ace, have a blanket ban on dangerous things by all means. i hope you'll honour your own theory by not driving your car, walking across the street or breathing air.
My car is a necesity (im disabled) but that is besides the fact that fireworks are a entertainment and a celebration ? but it dosnt mean you can sell them to the general public for them to get into the hands of thugs and young children who usually end up dead or badly hurt. you cannot compare fireworks with transport only a idiot would do that (mark you idiot)
ace is right.When i worked at the MRI.I saw some terrible injuries caused by fireworks.The best thing is to ban them.Stand outside any casulty department,and wait.
thanks for pointing out that your comment was aimed at me ace. i never would've guessed if you hadn't...
British Standard 7114 compliant retail garden and display fireworks on sale through retailers in the UK sold by reputable companies are generally OK provided safety distances and instructions are properly followed when used. A firework DOES NOT;
Throw itself,
Put itself through a letterbox or postbox,
And it doesn't deliberately set out to burn people!!!!!!
Only misuse/abuse of a firework does those things. And you are still a spoilsport and a killjoy Ace;the reason children get burned and injured by fireworks is because of stupid silly parents of kids and teens letting them get hold of them and misuse them NOT normal sensible use of fireworks in the backgarden or at a family event following all instructions and safety distances printed on them. Sensible use like this I can tolerate.
Children should be given fireworks free of charge so that they can enjoy celebrating a fantastic piece of English history - the day we avoided regicide and a catholic revolution.
2 killed and 900 injured in a year with fireworks. Hey in 2004 1,427 people were killed through drug misuse maybe we should be thinking about banning drugs too...
oh...