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

[FatNoMorePat]

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??

I agree.

www.essexlive.news/news/essex-news/leigh-sea-schoolboy-fighting-life-2175174?fbclid=IwAR3omhyqwdS-TyQjTC6nZVy3TU9kZuCeDCbBOAjbIDoy79s5TLG_RgdIxI4

A schoolboy is fighting for his life after being mowed down by a driver who lost control of her car after being blinded by an egg which was thrown at her windscreen.

Brendan Logan, 14, suffered a bleed on his brain after being hit by a black Jaguar E-Pace while out trick-or-treating on Halloween.

He was crossing the road with friends at the time of the crash in Leigh-on-Sea at around 7.55pm on Wednesday night (October 31).

His pals ran to his mum's house nearby to tell her what happened and she rang her sister, Sarah Brett, with the shocking news.

Sarah, 41, said: "I felt sick. My sister Sonja rang me and I threw my clothes on and ran down there.

“Brendan was unresponsive at first.

Then about half an hour later, he was coming around slightly, but was groaning and in-and-out of consciousness."

It is understood the crash occurred after the egg smashed on the windscreen and blocked the female driver's view.

She and her young child, who was in the back of the car, avoided serious injury, but Brendan had to be rushed to hospital.

A CT scan found he was suffering from a bleed on the brain, as well as notable swelling.

His condition is being monitored while medics decide whether he needs to be transferred to Great Ormond Street Hospital in London for specialist care.

Sarah added: "He’s really not himself and his mum is devastated.

"She told him earlier ‘I love you’ and he said ‘I love you’ back and that was the first sentence he’s been able to put together since it happened.

"We hope anyone with information comes forward and speaks with police so that those responsible can be brought to justice. The poor driver has to live with this.

"We also want to thank everyone for their concern and ask them to keep him in their prayers for a speedy recovery."

Anyone with information or dash cam footage is asked to call police on 101.

www.essexlive.news/news/essex-news/shocking-footage-shows-moment-firework-2174644?fbclid=IwAR19qWsW1urds9lTtS9mkdbPzJTF1AFR-38RxLd28BqBDAyv12QpbhUcUEk

The general public includes a lot of dangerous idiots, YANBU, fireworks are not suitable for domestic use.

Our school police officer put me off fireworks for life with his treasure trove of scary stories. i just feel they are a dangerous way of burning cash. Locally we have a huge charity fireworks display which I think should satisfy everyone. There's no need for fireworks at home, too. I don't even bother with the charity one but my dc love going with my parents. Last year they had some at home in the garden and it was so dangerous- and they are careful, almost 70-year-olds.

Agree. Some complete dicks were shooting them Horizontally at passing cars last night in my village.

Should be licensed displays only.

Cars are driven by ejits, ejits find all manner of ways to harm maim and generally attempt to wreak devastation to anyone and everyone in their way.

Police do a good job of scaring they could put anyone off driving for life.

Why should everyone pay for lack of restrictions and eejits. The vast majority have very safe and hugely entertaining, social on bonfire night and NY. Although NY has too many drunks.

In my opinion There is no good reason why they should not be limited to organised public displays. Those running them should have a license and to get it they should have to prove that they have a safe place to put on the display.

Organised displays mean you can still see fireworks but the risk of injury is vastly reduced. It also reduces the number of fireworks going off as many more people can view at once.

Fireworks currently:

Have a high injury rate from idiots setting them off irresponsibly in far too small gardens or using them stupidly.

Are used to frighten and intimidate.

Cause severe distress to vulnerable people including ptsd sufferers, the elderly and autistic people.

Pets are also often severely distressed by fireworks and many animals, especially those in fields, are injured in panic.

There are zero good reasons to have them so freely available. I wonder how much our struggling NHS would save if we made this change?

YANBU.

Three posts alone tonight on my FB horse group with badly injured horses. I am not sure any of these are ever recorded as statistics anywhere. Two dogs also gone missing in my village- again I doubt that any of these incidents get noted anywhere.
It’s 23:20 and still people are setting them off near me, they started at 6pm.
It will be the same again tomorrow and probably many times until new year. Then they start them again in July for events at the castle near us.

Where we are it starts around Halloween and continues right through until New Years Day.
I don't really mind tbh, just get used to them.
it's not like it's some new awful thing we have to get used to.

YABU, OP. Most people use fireworks sensibly.

Having said that, I do think that the fireworks available to buy nowadays are a lot stronger than the ones I remember seeing in the back garden!

My horses are terrified of them. I have had my two 20 years now got them when i was 10 now 30!😑 that seems forever however the fireworks never used to be so bad but now they are let of whenever and wherever We had a 3k vet bill New years day and a 2 night stay at vets due to fireworks!.

We get those bloody chinese lanterns in the fields we have to be on watch making sure them and fireworks dont land on the hay barn.
Ours horses have earplugs(horse ones) if that would help your dogs? X

Isn't part of the problem that fireworks have become an awful lot louder? than they used to be?

My memory of Bonfire Night in the 1980s was fireworks crackling and looking nice. My family had an allotment and we used to let them off there, with some food and a thermos of tea. I don't remember them being particularly noisy.

In contrast, a few years ago I lived in Auckland, NZ. Every night leading up to 5 Nov, BANG BANG BANG. Bonfire Night itself sounded like a war zone with these enormous explosions BANG BANG CRASH BOOM. The fireworks available for sale here are all (I believe) imported from China and the Chinese like them loud. Until a few years ago we used to let off a few in our garden. Every one of them was loud, and visually, not that interesting. We don't bother now, and go to a local municipal event instead.

I'd be interested to know whether other people have noticed the same thing.

YANBU I've never seen the point of spending £££ on a shit display that has the potential to injure people!

@HelenaDove

Re www.essexlive.news/news/essex-news/leigh-sea-schoolboy-fighting-life-2175174?fbclid=IwAR3omhyqwdS-TyQjTC6nZVy3TU9kZuCeDCbBOAjbIDoy79s5TLG_RgdIxI4

Should we be banning eggs too?

Or affray? Because the latter is presumably already against the law in Leigh-on-Sea.

How about the parents actually discipline the little fuckers. Or would that be too much to ask.

the sort of pricks that throw eggs at cars would also think nothing of throwing fireworks.

And yes fireworks wernt as loud 35 to 40 years ago. I remember my dad letting them off in the garden and they crackled and the rockets were more like very loud farts.

Not the bloody sonic booms we get now.

YANBU.

Selling dangerous explosives to the general public. Too stupid for words.

Organised displays only. And even they can go wrong sometimes.

In the USA there are states that it is easier getting a legal gun the fireworks...

Yet the UK outright bans most guns yet fireworks are unlicensed is a bit silly tbh.

The ones for organised displays though are way way louder than the ones you get from shops so I don’t see that solving the problem.

We have many dangerous things to deal with in life, but to stop something with such huge appeal to so many who are doing no harm.

I think it's that fireworks can be such a reminder of some of the dangerous things that many have dealt with in life. I was woken by a loud firework going off last night and have consequently spent a very unpleasant and frightening night awake. Equally I do not want to stop people having fun - but see organised displays only as a good compromise. I know in the US now that many war veterans display signs in their yards so that neighbours know that fireworks may adversely affect them - I wouldn't want to do that and draw attention to myself but having read a little about the subject I believe that it has made people more aware of how their actions may affect others around them. It's not just the noise that can upset people, it can be the way the light plays across the countryside and buildings and, caught in the open by surprise, can also be quite disturbing.

People are trying to compare driving cars to fireworks on this thread 'many idiots drive cars and injure people' but that is very much not the same thing.

A car is a necessary way of travelling for most. Fireworks are completely unnecessary entertainment which although pretty, are very dangerous. The people who agree with OP are not calling for a blanket ban but keeping them to professional displays only.

You have to complete a period of learning in order to pass a test to obtain a licence in order to drive a car. To buy fireworks you simply have to have made it to the age of 18. They are sold in most supermarkets.

"" I don't really mind tbh, just get used to them.
it's not like it's some new awful thing we have to get used to""

As previous posters have said, they are getting louder. Also, generally around the region, we are packing more housing into as little space as possible.

For those saying that we shouldn't own dogs, what about rabbits? It's the low boom fireworks that my cats and rabbits hate.

We have pop-up firework shops from the middle of October and live in fear from the yobs who fire them in the streets, into shops etc.

Shriek, yes my friend has tried a thunder shirt on her dog but it didn't work. She has tried so many things, loads I had never ever heard of. Diazapam works but I would hate to have to give that to my dog night after night. It cannot do them any good and they don't; understand that horrible feeling you get when tranquillised.

My facebook page is full of stories this morning of dogs escaping gardens because fireworks have scared them, dogs being petrified, horses being injured etc.

It is only the 3rd November today so why were so many people letting them of last night? Why have so many people been letting them off for 11 nights in a row? Not just a few people but lots.

They are definitely getting louder, much much louder. When I had my previous dog and even when I first had the dog I have now (as I explained before he wasn't scared of fireworks for a couple of years) they didn't really bother me too much. Now my dog is scared, I am sick of the windows rattling and the tv being drowned out and just "boom boom boom". What the hell is the fun of that? Also they never used to go on night after night after night.

I can understand that the police have far more urgent things to deal with than someone letting off fireworks after 11pm and the idiots know that. Last year I was woken one night at 2am by fireworks which went on for 15 minutes.

Our local Scouts have just cancelled their display because winds forecast for this afternoon/evening could potentially risk firework debris falling on the public.
They are being very responsible here, but if the winds really are as strong as predicted isn't there potential for accidents in back gardens so over the area?