To wish fireworks for home use were banned?

[ValiantMouse]

People have been letting them off for over a week now. I'm sitting in my house and it sounds like the Battle of Britain is going on outside, mainly thanks to one neighbour who thinks it's ace to let off very powerful fireworks. I really hate it, my nerves are shot and if it's anything like last night, it'll be midnight before they stop.

AIBU?

YANBU!!!!

YANBU. Our neighbour let some off at 9pm on Wednesday that were clearly not garden fireworks as they literally made our (detached) house shake. DS came running down from bed as he thought the house was going to collapse. There were quite a few of them, not just one, and akin to the ones I've seen as displays.

But... we have some garden fireworks to let off tonight at DS's party. We have a box of them which were recommended for gardens, which we had last year too. There are 3 display ones (min. 25m) in the box which sensible DH disposed of last year by taking them to the tip and will do so again this year. A numpty would have used them though or not disposed of them safely and they shouldn't have been included tbh.

I was initially unhappy at having any at all and I wouldn't mind if they were banned from home use. They scare the life out of me and I could never light one. But DH did appear to be doing them very safely last year (taking them out to the garden one by one etc) so I conceded to having them again.

Easy to see who are the selfish ones on this thread. No consideration for others whatsoever.

Don't be stupid. The pet owners are just as selfish, thinking their pet comes before anyone else's enjoyment. I bet most don't give a shit whether their pet bothers or scares anyone else. There are certainly a large number of selfish dog owners out in the Real World who cause far more problems to other people every single day of the year, not just a few days in the last quarter. Let's not forget the shitting cats either.

It happens every year. It's not a surprise.

which sensible DH disposed of last year by taking them to the tip

Do you think that is a safe way to dispose of fireworks?

Soupdragon and Shelagh it was mayhem in parts of Sheffield on bonfire night.

[shrug] It was mayhem in London on one afternoon this week due to a protest.

There is one group of people who want to ban something that others like basically because the don't like it. Try applying that to any other activity and you will see how stupid it is.

My dogs hate the fireworks - but that's not my reason for thinking they should be controlled more tightly.
Every year, People, including children, are injured and killed, businesses and home are burnt, because too many people use fireworks irresponsibly.

As a society, we haven't demonstrated that we are responsible enough to have such unregulated access to explosives.

This is true about dogs. I mentioned the fireworks petition to DH and he said we're bothered every single day by the dog behind us barking so it was a bit rich for owners to complain about how the noise from fireworks was affecting their dogs.

I like fireworks soupdragon, but the firework industry needs more regulation. I don't even think they need to be restricted to public displays only, but there is clearly a need to make sure that they don't fall into the wrong hands. Surely everyone can see that.

YANBU. I can't believe that fireworks are sold to the general public. There have been kids mucking about, throwing them around in the park by our house since mid October. DS has not had a proper night's sleep for weeks.

It wouldn't be so bad if they were only allowed to be let off on 5 November.

What happened in Sheffield last night isn't that far from us and has changed my mind on fireworks.

I had though that restrictions on the size of fireworks should be in place, and even have a box of mini ones for the garden in a tin box under the stairs (boys were poorly, were planning on lighting them tomorrow night). Now though, I'd be happy for a complete ban and displays only.

Do you think that is a safe way to dispose of fireworks?

Yes. He handed them to the worker there and said how shall I dispose of these? The worker took them and thanked him for bring them to the tip and not putting them in the household bin.

But thanks for your snidey and judgemental comment!

My little dog hates fireworks. Sits on my feet and shivers.

I still don't think fireworks should be banned. Better controlled, maybe, but the public should not be banned from buying them.

Christ, I just read Bike's link posted at 20.14 yesterday and hadn't realised how bad things had got in some areas. YANU

YANBU

I think that a nice big tax hike on fireworks and some sort of licence to purchase them would work. If you don't have a valid licence then they are confiscated.

YANBU although I do enjoy a good home-grown firework display!

I would say that YABU if there was a way it could be limited to people who at least try use them safely (there will always be accidents), but of course that's impossible. It's an absolute PITA if you have kids/pets that hate them, but that's mainly because of the banging and that bit isn't dangerous per se.

It wasn't for long, but some teenagers spent part of Thurs night seeing how far down my street they could fire their fireworks (as in, ones that shoot high in the sky, sent sideways down a long narrow residential road). They were ricocheting off houses, windows and cars and the whole place was lit up like we were in a fire as they flashed. So dangerous as you can inflict huge amounts of damage. Thankfully no pedestrians appeared in those few minutes, but it is an area with regular footfall into the night and could have ended so differently.

This is RoSPA data for four weeks, back in 2005. Couldn't find any more recent: www.rospa.com/home-safety/advice/fireworks-safety/injuries-gb-2005/

990 injuries by fireworks in 4 weeks. 500 of them under 17, 300 under 13. 500 of which at private family parties. There were 100 at organised displays, but doesn't break down to whether they were results of the firework display, or sparklers etc (which as an ex bonfire night first aider, is far more likely).

Only 330 didn't require further medical treatment beyond the initial presentation. So 660 required more than one hospital visit, 94 kept in, 62 of which in specialist burns/eye units.

So add up the cost of ambulances, medical care, inpatient stays, outpatient visits, time off work, cost to the individual....

Still think they're a good idea?

"Christ, I just read Bike's link posted at 20.14 yesterday and hadn't realised how bad things had got in some areas."

It was massive news locally.

I am not against them for home use BUT I am shocked at the size of modern fireworks

I went to buy a little set like we had as kids - roman candles and catherine wheels and such - they are all huge big bangers - which all say you need to be 20+ feet away - I don't have a 20 foot garden - most people don't have huge gardens so that's dangerous

So I would bring back 1970's style shit fireworks and ban modern ones

YABU. I love them. My kids love them. Animals can be trained to get used to. In UK, fireworks for home use are VERY weak anyway. They're basically just sparklers.
If you went to places in Eastern Europe, where people pinch signal flares from ships or military and then deadly accidents happen... It would be a real issue.

"In UK, fireworks for home use are VERY weak anyway. They're basically just sparklers."

You are seriously misinformed. They clearly aren't. Read Bikerunski's link.

Maybe i don't read much into things, but living here over a decade, buying fireworks every possible occasion (closeted pyromaniac i guess), never got to shoot anything of a caliber what i had when growing up in Lithuania. Stuff that would really light up the sky. Here its just a bang and smell of sulphur. Barely visible unless its a professional display.

I'd be interested to see the injury/death/damage statistics from countries with less regulation.

I wonder if it's because they are only accessible here for a few weeks every year that leads to irresponsible use?