52 replies to this topic

[pyrotechnist]

We need to ban the government they are a danger to us all! I didn't know kids blow themselves up on christmas crackers though it must be a common occurrence.... pfft!

[whoof]

As far as the ban on shells goes i have to admit i support it.
Some of the general public are just too stupid / incompetent to posess them.
Two examples from this year.

At rear of my house is a row of houses with gardens backing the road.
Gardens are about 5 paces sq within a pavement width of the road.

Every year 2 of the neighbours let off shells, i think it is something of duel.
This year from the report i would swear they had a 4 incher.

Later driving along the A40 near the Hoover building someone let off a cake.
It was angled so that the stars went over the road.
The croisettes were bursting about 2 foot off the ground and as i drive a convertible was very disconcerting to me personally.

From a consumer point of view we are very lucky, in US 5 states have a blanket ban and most cities have their own
ordinances banning anything bigger than a sparkler within city limits.

If the same were applied here there would be nothing allowed within the M25 ring.

I live close to Southall whic has a large ethnic population and have been told that shells can be had no questions asked.
I am pretty certain that these places do not have licenced store either.
I have never personally verified this though.
Make their own ? Unlikely i think uinless they are in this forum , from what i gather some skill is required.

Dodgy imports, now that is quite possible.

I would like to see a return of local organised display at schools etc but HSE / insurance has pretty much killed them off.

Edit
Just to be clear i am talking about consumer fireworks , organised displays no problem.

I happen to think that about half the Houses in London would fall foul of the current 50 foot limit anyway so there may be some merit in a ban.

Edited by snert, 11 December 2010 - 08:17 PM.

[phildunford]

Part of the problem (as I have said before) is that people expect pro sized displays in their back gardens...

When I was a kid, I estimate every other house in our street of back to back houses would have a display on Nov 5th. There was never an accident or complaint. However the biggest piece was a 'Devil amongst the tailors' with a mine size of about 2 inchs. Great fun can still be had with this sort of thing, as you can be quite close and appreciate the effect. However, even some of the smaller cakes would be far too large for such an environment. People without gardens would go to the local common & fire their stuff. Everyone would go there & get a free display.

I fired shells in small church displays for many years before the ban (2,3 &4 inch) and at the start my only 'training' was to read the labels... It really is not that difficult. Frankly if someone can't manage that simple task without a licence & a training course they should not be let out on their own!

As to the yobs who use fireworks as weapons, I think 2 years in prison might be a starting point - not a warning or an ASBO...

Edited by phildunford, 11 December 2010 - 08:38 PM.

[Peret]

we must use different calculators

No, probably the same calculators, but one of us forgot to multiply by the radius of the shell he weighed. Six and eight inch.

[whoof]

When I was a kid, I estimate every other house in our street of back to back houses would have a display on Nov 5th. There was never an accident or complaint. However the biggest piece was a 'Devil amongst the tailors' with a mine size of about 2 inchs. Great fun can still be had with this sort of thing, as you can be quite close and appreciate the effect. However, even some of the smaller cakes would be far too large for such an environment. People without gardens would go to the local common & fire their stuff. Everyone would go there & get a free display.

Pretty much my memories.
Read the labels,- That was reportedly a element in the unfortunate mortatr incedents- Chinese.
Firing on the common, still happens here (illegaly) trouble is it is the yobboes from the local estate doing it.

I have since learned that there was an RTA that night although it is a bad stretch anyway and do not know if the fireworks contributed.
It will only take a bad incident like that to get calls for a ban.

[pyrotechnist]

I would highly doubt they will ban fireworks as it will be highly stupid but I am sure they will impart more restrictions on us all making it not worth while anymore ruining yet another British tradition! The thing is the more you restrict something the more people go to making them or buying them off the black market.

[exat808]

i can beat that, today i heard on the local radio, shops where thinking of only supplying christmas crackers to the over sixteen's as they may be classed as fireworks!, how many cristmas cracker deaths can you find on google?

OK so no deaths relating to Christmas crackers on Google but I did manage to find one instance of serious injury (loss of sight in one eye) relating to making cracker snaps -

An explosion of fulminate of silver occurred on the 31st July 1911 at the toy firework factory of the Diamond Cosaque Company, Limited, Stratford. By this accident a girl received injuries to her face and left hand, and lost the sight of one eye. At the time of the accident she was engaged in making snaps for bonbon crackers.

The terms of the Licence limit the quantity of fulminate of silver to one grain for each person engaged in such manufacture.

One of us investigated the circumstances attending this accident, and it appears probable that a small supply of fulminate of silver had been surreptitiously accumulated for use when the proper supply of one grain ran short. The explosions was probably due to friction or undue force being used while transferring some fulminate of silver from this supply to the proper receptacle. It appears probable that this extra supply was kept in a tin box, which would account for the injuries received by the girl but there was some contradictory evidence on this point.

Copied from HSE EIDAS incident records.