Fireworks: Public Sales

Martyn Day Excerpts

Monday 26th November 2018 Westminster Hall

[Martyn Day (Linlithgow and East Falkirk) (SNP)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr McCabe. I thank the hon. Member for Warrington North (Helen Jones) for opening today’s timely and topical debate and for covering so much of the territory.

Complaints about fireworks are an annual and seasonal occurrence, as I evidence in my office, and I have no doubt they increase year on year. I am grateful for the work of the Firework Abatement campaign, which has highlighted hundreds of incidents that have occurred, mostly from October onwards, and it sums up the problem succinctly as random and unexpected use. I have certainly seen evidence of that in my office, which has been inundated by complaints since October. It came as no surprise, when I saw the statistics on this e-petition, to discover that the West Lothian and Falkirk constituencies were among the top for signatories to the e-petition. Livingston came out top, followed by Linlithgow and East Falkirk, and Falkirk had the fifth-most signatories. Scottish constituencies were more likely to have a higher level of signatories on this issue than on many of the e-petitions I have seen.

I welcome the fact that Scotland is to have a consultation on fireworks next year. The regulation of the sale of fireworks is regarded as a consumer safety issue and, as such, is a reserved matter. The Scottish Government Minister for Community Safety, Ash Denham, wrote to the UK Government to request an update on their position on the sale of fireworks and was informed that there are no plans to consider legislative change.

The position on the use of fireworks is a little more complex; the Fireworks Regulations 2004 cover antisocial use in Scotland, apart from regulation 7, which relates to curfews, which are a devolved matter. Curfews in Scotland are covered in the Fireworks (Scotland) Regulations 2004, which, similar to England, prohibit use between 1 pm and 7 am, with certain exceptions.

Enforcement of curfews primarily is a matter for the police. Excessive noise from fireworks or noise during the curfew period can be considered a statutory nuisance. Local authority environmental health officers have the power to investigate complaints of fireworks noise, but I can think of much better uses of both police and environmental health officers’ time than pursing the inconsiderate use of fireworks. I would much rather they focused on the dangerous use of fireworks, where they are used recklessly and potentially endanger others, although that remains a fairly small minority of fireworks users.

The majority of firework use is, without any doubt, responsible—often by families in private gardens at a reasonably early hour of the evening around bonfire night, or to mark celebrations of family, cultural or religious events. Nobody wishes to remove people’s ability to enjoy fireworks, which is why I would prefer fireworks to be restricted to licensed displays and the general public perhaps restricted to purchases of silent fireworks.

The vast bulk of complaints I receive from constituents on this issue relate to noise; in most cases, the noise occurs outwith any curfew period and therefore does not break existing regulations. Something needs to be done, as severe distress is being caused to people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder or to those with other mental health issues, and to animals. It is random, unexpected noise that causes many problems. When people know the timings in advance, as is the case with organised displays, it is pretty easy to take precautions, such as putting on some music. My cat, Porridge, quite enjoys it when I put on a bit of soul—not just sole—and I was grateful to hear from the Battersea campaign, which works with the University of Lincoln, that dogs find reggae and classical music most relaxing. I did not know that prior to this debate.

The effect on animals was the biggest area of concern raised by multiple constituents. Many sent me videos and stories of their dogs, cats and horses suffering from severe acoustic stress. I will detail a small but representative sample of concerns raised with my office this year alone. One constituent stated that she has two dogs, one of which is a nine-year-old Rottweiler that is terrified of firework noise. His heart rate increases greatly, he cries continually throughout the bangs and other noises, and is too frightened to go outside. For a period after the noise ceases, he is anxious and extremely clingy. He paces, does not eat or sleep, and is simply not able to relax or settle. My constituent has huge concerns about the effect all that has on the dog’s welfare.

Another constituent stated that her little girl woke up in floods of tears due to fireworks going off. Another constituent advised that she could feel the explosion from the fireworks through the floor of her house, and that domestic rubbish bins were targeted. One constituent, who is a registered veterinary nurse, advised of the animal distress that she had seen due to fireworks. Another constituent stated that she is a teacher and is very concerned about the safety of her students around fireworks. She believes that most teenagers are responsible and caring, but it only takes the action of one reckless person to alter the course of someone’s life. The resulting trauma is a drain on NHS resources, and our emergency services are abused when attending unsafe displays that can get out of hand.

Another constituent went even further than the hon. Member for Nottingham North (Alex Norris). She has two dogs that are so terrified by the noise that she took them away for a week to a cottage in a remote area at a cost of £800, so that her dogs could relax stress free. People should not have to go to those lengths.

Perhaps the most upsetting complaint I received this year was from a woman who advised that she

“had the tragedy of having to put to sleep one of my horses. It was scared by fireworks and ran into a fence causing a terrible wound which he wouldn’t be able to recover from.”

Those are just some of the complaints my office received this year.

Most issues could be resolved by limiting noise. After about three weeks of complaints, I raised that in a written question tabled on Monday 5 November, after the heaviest weekend of fireworks. I asked whether the Government had plans to amend the regulations on the sale or use of fireworks to reduce the maximum decibel level of fireworks purchasable by the general public, and to encourage the use of low-noise fireworks. I fared no better than the petitioners or the Scottish Government at getting the answer I was after. I was advised:

“There are already controls on noise levels for fireworks and it is an offence to supply fireworks exceeding 120 decibels to the public. There are no plans to amend the regulations to reduce this level.”

My internet research, which I did for comparison purposes, shows that that is higher than the 100 dB noise of a jet take-off measured at 305 metres, or what I am told is the average human pain threshold of 110 dB.

I ask the Minister seriously to reconsider this issue. It simply will not go away by itself, and doing nothing is not an option. My proposals on organised fireworks displays and the sale of silent fireworks to the general public would solve most of the noise problems, allow pet owners to make suitable arrangements for the times of organised displays, and let police and local authorities concentrate on the genuinely dangerous misuse of fireworks, their unlicensed sale and so on.