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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To believe that fireworks shouldn’t be available to the general public?

628 replies

FatNoMorePat · 02/11/2018 00:53

Fireworks at this time of night!!!

I’m partial to a sparkler don’t get me wrong, but I just don’t agree with fireworks being readily available for joe public. Particularly when people let them off after 11pm!

I’m not saying get rid of them all together but make it stricter so they’re only let off in safe environments by people who’ve had adequate training who then clean everything up and it’s all done and dusted before 11pm.

Am I getting old??

OP posts:
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spanishwife · 02/11/2018 09:43

@Feefeetrixabelle I'm lying? Ive lived in Spain in different towns and cites for 8 years and every year it's the same. Maybe accept that your one trip didn't show the full picture?

OftenHangry · 02/11/2018 09:43

Tbf people are not supposed to throw them at each other or pthers on a street anyway. Same like people are not supposed to carry a large knives.
Regulations won't do much. It will just profit people selling them illegally.
However, proper punishment would maybe deter some of the morons. Or a basic IQ test with every purchase.....

EvaHarknessRose · 02/11/2018 09:47

Please can we also ban organised displays in the early hours? The night the clocks changed I was treated to being woken up by a ten minute display at 1.15 am!

BubblesBubblesBubbles · 02/11/2018 09:52

I like them. I’m going to see some tonight. Enjoy a good fireworks display.

We don’t do them at home as they can be dangerous.

I’m lucky neither of my dogs are bothered and my cats seem ok - they are normally kept in, but even when out they don’t seem particularly bothered.

What does piss me off is them going off after 11pm!! And 2 weeks either side of Bon fire night!! Bon fire night and new year fine...every other time is antisocial!

ManicUnicorn · 02/11/2018 09:54

YANBU. They cause distress to animals of all kinds, not just pets but farm animals and horses and wildlife, young children, autistic people, the elderly, people with PTSD, war veterans etc. I don't give a shit if it's tradition, lots of things that used to be tradition have died out and the whole thing is deeply rooted in religious prejudice anyway.

Maybe if people respect the fact the Bonfire night is the 5th November it wouldn't be so bad, but they've been going off here since September and my Facebook feed is full of pictures of dogs that have been spooked and run off.

QuestionableMouse · 02/11/2018 10:01

@spanishwife fire crackers and some of the massive things the idiots let off are completely different things.

ScrumpyBetty · 02/11/2018 10:01

YANBU. Organised displays only in my opinion.

DameDoom · 02/11/2018 10:05

An otherwise empty shop near my house opens as a firework emporium from the beginning of October every year. The clientele are dubious to say the least. The fact that weapons grade pyrotechnics are so readily bought and sold by total buffoons is chilling.
My cats are kicking off because I won't let them out at the minute.

Whitney168 · 02/11/2018 10:06

Completely agree, OP. It is a wonder to me that so much is banned in the name of Health & Safety these days, but any Tom, Dick or Harry is allowed to buy what can be some pretty serious explosives and play with them.

Should be a licence required, strict limits and fines on 'after hours'.

For those who have dogs which are scared at this time of year, I have good success with Serene-Um with the one of my lot that hates them. One tablet just before it gets dark chills him out for the evening, and they are available at pet shops.

JonSnowsManBun · 02/11/2018 10:07

YANBU. Fucking hate them. Absolute cretins letting them off at all hours 5 days before and 5 days after bonfire night. Shitty squeaky fart noises in stereo every night. Frightened cat hiding under the bed.

Fuck bonfire night.

spanishwife · 02/11/2018 10:08

You can't ban edge cases without banning everything. @QuestionableMouse

SputnikBear · 02/11/2018 10:09

YANBU. Fireworks should only be available to licensed providers. There’s too many accidents and too much hassle with yobs setting them off randomly at inappropriate time/days/locations, or even tying them to animals and seriously injuring them. If people can’t be sensible then fireworks need to be restricted to sensible licensees only.

LagerthaTheShieldMaiden · 02/11/2018 10:11

Maybe if people respect the fact the Bonfire night is the 5th November it wouldn't be so bad, but they've been going off here since September

I think this is key. It starts at around the end of September here and it will carry on now until NYE. You just can't plan for that.

Whitney168 · 02/11/2018 10:12

I have many happy memories of bonfire parties in my nan and gramp's garden with shop-bought fireworks and home-made toffee apples!

I think a lot of us have such happy memories, but this view conveniently forgets that in those days it was probably some sparklers and a Catherine wheel, with a few whizz bangs. These bloody things are like bombs now.

LyndaLaHughes · 02/11/2018 10:16

This was debated in Parliament last year and they didn't agree with banning them unfortunately.

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/201947

Feefeetrixabelle · 02/11/2018 10:16

@spanishwife not sure where you got one trip from. I see your 8 years experience and raise you 14 years growing up there with approximately 10 years maybe 11 of visiting. All over the country. So yeah I repeat you lie.

MereDintofPandiculation · 02/11/2018 10:18

As a child I found organised displays terrifying - lots of tall strangers in the dark. I'd prefer fireworks to be allowed on Bonfire Night only, and limit the ones sold to the public to be pretties only. Could have done that in the past by allowing people to reserve fireworks to be picked up on the day, but if you can buy them online, that's not going to work, so resigned to fireworks being a thing of the past for me.

mydogisthebest · 02/11/2018 10:27

I totally agree OP.

I used to love fireworks now I hate them. Where I used to live they would start on Halloween and then just carry on for at least 2 weeks. Yes every single night and not just the odd one or two.

I can understand fireworks on 5th November but not on all the other nights. They start around 5pm and often carry on until gone midnight. Maybe not constant but enough of them to be a real pain.

Last year I kept a record and they started on 28th October (God knows why) and carried on every night until the 12th November. Then random nights up until Christmas.

Some of them sounded like bombs going off. They drowned out our tv and the ones going off after midnight would wake me and then keep me awake.

My dog had never been bothered by fireworks at all until 2 years ago I was walking him at around 3pm (so not even dark) and someone let a firework off as we were walking past there garden. He has been scared ever since then.

If people let them off on 5th November fine but they don't. It makes me so angry. I know so many people with dogs and cats that are absolutely terrified. They have to be tranquillised for weeks at a time and how can that be good for them?

What about horses, cows, sheep etc? I am pretty sure not all of them are ok with it and yet they too have to suffer for weeks. Quite a few people are scared of them. My elderly neighbour said the loud bang ones remind her too much of the war.

Also what is the point of the ones that just make a loud noise? The pretty ones I get but not the others that seem to get louder and louder every year.

I think far too many morons just let them off for the sake of it. On another forum I was told I was lying that my area had them for over 2 weeks because where they lived they only heard them 1 or 2 nights. I so wish that was true

swanlife · 02/11/2018 10:29

Disagree. I enjoy fireworks I enjoy randomly seeing them go up when I'm not expecting it. I stand and watch them in the street they make me happy. I stand this as someone who had a dog who was scared of fireworks. They're beautiful they're fun. People use them as part of community fun. They bring people together. Every year we have people at our house as we set them off all together. We can't control/ monitor everything. I'm not a child who needs looking after

Henryismyfriend · 02/11/2018 10:31

Totally disagree, sorry! I have many happy memories of bonfire parties in my nan and gramp's garden with shop-bought fireworks and home-made toffee apples!

I too have lovely memories of family get togethers.

What I do get annoyed about is people who have pets moaning about fireworks from the beginning of bloody September on wards.

Well that's because they're on sale and let off from the end of bloody September, when there's no reason for them to be.

I think pet-owners forget that it's not obligatory to have a pet, it's something they've chosen to do.

It's also not obligatory to have fireworks, it's something that someone chooses to do. And it doesn't just affect pet owners.

As such, it's up to them to make sure their pet is sufficiently shielded from the fireworks, not for people who wish to have a little fun to have to think about every Tom, Dick and Harry's bloody pet dog.

Yes, it is, and if they were confined to bonfire night, that would be entirely possible. But they're not, they're sold and let off for weeks either side of bonfire night. That makes it impossible to predict and safeguard against.
Laws do exist with regards to fireworks near livestock and horses, living in a semi rural area I've yet to see it be enforced, despite reports and complaints. Because honestly the police have enough to deal with, and I get that. And it's incredibly hard to police anyway. Laws and guidance are in place, and ignored or not enforced. Fireworks find their way into the hands of the irresponsible despite these measures. People are being injured, animals are being injured. And it's on the increase, so something needs to be done.

And as for tradition, fox hunting is tradition, based on a historical need for farmers to control fox population way back when the options were limited. It has long been decreed an outdated and unecessary tradition and banned. It's time selling fireworks to every Tom, Dick or Harry were seen the same way.

spanishwife · 02/11/2018 10:35

@Feefeetrixabelle I will send you a video in June honey

Feefeetrixabelle · 02/11/2018 10:39

@spanishwife I have plenty thanks Hun. But I look forward to seeing yours of kids throwing snaps. Which aren’t fire crackers sweetie.

MinorRSole · 02/11/2018 10:49

Yanbu, organised events only in my book. People are too irresponsible and stupid to be allowed such easy access to explosives. It's anti social and a pita. Old and grumpy maybe, but also not going to take half my face off with a firework.

MinorRSole · 02/11/2018 10:51

Just to add, I go to our local display every year. It's beautiful and so well organised. I love bonfire night but just the one night please!

TubeTop · 02/11/2018 10:57

I completely agree.