To ask your views on fireworks?

[LlynTegid]

I am sure there will be many on MN who have views, if threads in previous years are an indication. So I'll start the discussion here.

My opinion is that there should be designated days only, and organised displays. Probably no more than five or six such days a year. Allows for celebration, reduces possibility of injury, and warning so you can be indoors when they happen and protect any person or animal.

Silent fireworks should be the norm now, for a start, and they could be replaced by drones or light shows

I dont think we are marking Guy Fawkes and the electric light bulb plot!

How can an explosion be made silent?

So most of you think your dogs should take priority over my enjoyment?
Silent fireworks or drones are dull and pointless, I want the full experience of lights, sound and smell.
I disagree about having to spend lots of money; I have spent £30 including sparklers, for 6 adults and a child. Less than a fiver each and more than enough to enjoy. I have no idea why PP added the cost of food to a home display, wouldn’t you be eating anyway? I don’t buy anything extra.

Fireworks are set off for a very short period of time. Your dogs are a pain up the arse all year round but I’m not calling for dogs to be banned

Maybe that is the way forward. Keep the fireworks and ban dogs.

Has anybody done a comparative study of annual dog vs firework deaths/injuries?

I love em and understand why organised displays are better, but recently went to one where they played MUSIC all through the display. It was f**king awful. Not even good music, eg the 1812, but some weird moany Radiohead covers. Loud music beforehand as well. (And no bonfire, but that's a separate moan.) A £20 box of fireworks from Tescos in the garden would've been much more fun. (And sparklers weren't allowed. BOO)

Love them. Was watching my neighbours ones last night. Going to a display tonight and will be watching other peoples fireworks over the coming few days. We don’t have our own (not enough space in our garden away from the tree and garage) but I love watching everyone else’s.

NB We did go to a silent fireworks display a while back designed for SEN kids - great idea and quite good fun, but autistic DD said very loudly at the end 'that was really rubbish, wasn't it!' Lol

Organised displays only

I love them.

I also think it's funny when people piss and moan about them.

So this is an all round splendid time of year for me.

I completely agree with this. I love fireworks.

Re "getting upset about random ones"

Last night we had teenagers throwing them at cars and trying to scare the younger children out trick or treating.

Its idiocy like that that causes the problems.

Or setting them off in small gardens... most gardens are too small to do it safely. It can cause fires or injuries.

It should be fun... but it isn't.

Near me they've been going on virtually every night since the beginning of October, often until the early hours of the morning. Step outside your bubble.

They shouldn't be available for the public to purchase. Stick to organised displays, and If you want them for a private event use a licensed company. I suspect it will immediately sort out a lot of the issues.

And yes, I'd like to see a total ban on them for private use. If we must have them, licensed displays only at designated days and times.

I live in a small village near a large town. Fireworks are a year round problem here. Virtually every week I can loud fireworks frequently after midnight. We also have local idiots who use large display fireworks in their garden. I have a row of houses and a road between us and my garden and field is still littered with firework debris I want fireworks banned other than organised displays

limiting the number of nights is probably unworkable. sooner or later some new reason for some group to have fireworks will come along and we won't be able to discriminate. I do support tighter regulations on their sale to the public though. Some kind of license required from the council would be a start. Cheap and easy, but requires a little advanced thinking and declaring some details. then only holders of a license can purchase fireworks.

They do it in other countries!

In this day and age of terrorism and the like, I find it fascinating that you can walk into a shop and buy explosives.

They should be organised, licensed displays only and permitted for just the weeks either side of bonfire night.

The stress it puts on animals and wildlife, causing death every year, is horrific. Why must, as always, other living beings suffer just because humans want to watch pretty lights and listen to bangs. Ludicrous.

If You had an animal that got itself so distressed that you fear it’s going to die of heart failure, then perhaps you would think differently. Yes we do get sedatives from the vet for bonfire night, but the reality is that the fireworks go off for weeks in advance and after the event, so no we can’t drug her indefinitely.

Typical selfish human response. Why should animals suffer just because you are amused by lights and bangs? Its not about being a ‘misery guts’, its about having empathy for other living things and not just thinking about the enjoyment of humans.

I wouldn't ban them but they should only be sold in the week before 5th November and anyone who wants to use them should have to get a licence which declares what, where and when they will be used. These should be publicly available to view and anyone who does not have a licence or not keeping to it should be treated in the same way as anyone else who possesses or lets off explosives.

I think the problem with “organized displays only” is that local governments are rapidly running out of money for fireworks (or tending parks, or bins, or anything that isn’t social care, school transport and a few other things). So in practice “organized displays only” may end up just meaning no fireworks at all, which is a bit sad.

If it were anything other than fireworks, either local governments or private enterprises could put on displays and charge for people to watch, like they do with things like music events and the like. But fireworks a) have to be outdoors b) can be seen from afar, so there is no easy way to charge people for watching - people can just watch for free from anywhere in the vicinity.

Allowing fireworks privately but only on certain dates might be best, not sure how it would be policed though.

I think the problem with “organized displays only” is that local governments are rapidly running out of money for fireworks

I have been to quite a few organised displays over the years and none have been funded by local governments.

The best one recently was a NYE display organised by a tiny pub in the middle of rural Wales.

The fireworks that sound like bombs going off are the worst and the noise levels should be reduced. Don't mind the crackling or wheeing ones.

If they just made them all quiet then it wouldn't matter as much.

My parents live at the back of Leicester Racecourse and can see the fireworks from their back garden for free.

I think fireworks for public sale should be banned.

Sparklers, fine with those.

Professional displays only between set hours of 6-8pm except 31st December / 1st January where it'd be Midnight till 1am

If you want fireworks for a birthday or a wedding or other celebrations etc, a professional can be hired who would know the laws and have the permits and training.