Trading Standards officers from Newham Council recently carried out test purchase operations to ensure that local businesses were not selling firework products to young people.
The recent test purchases saw young people, under the age of 18, attempting to purchase firework products from a number of different businesses in the borough.
The planned test purchase operation was a success for the Trading Standards team, with a total of 16 businesses visited, and no reported failures.
It is illegal for anyone, including those under the age of 18, to purchase firework products, and on this occasion local businesses in Newham have proved they’re following the rules.
Newham Council’s Trading Standards service currently conducts a robust and ambitious programme of underage firework test-purchasing and enforcement. This is to prevent the sale of age-restricted products, reducing crime and anti-social behaviour (associated with fireworks) within the borough.
Councillor Carleene Lee- Phakoe, Cabinet Member for Crime & Community Safety said:
“It’s pleasing to see that all business premises tested refused the sale of firework products to underage people within the borough. I am glad to see that the message is hitting home and businesses are doing the right thing.
“Consumer protection and firework safety is a high priority within the borough. We want to ensure that all residents and visitors to the borough remain safe in the days leading up to, and including, the next big calendar event on New Year’s Eve 2022.
“We will continue to carry out compliance and enforcement activity to stop the minority who attempt to break the rules.”
Fireworks for private use can only be purchased from registered retailers during selected dates throughout the year.
For most of the year, it is illegal to set off fireworks (including sparklers) between 11pm and 7am. This curfew is extended to 1am for New Year’s Eve, Diwali, and Chinese New Year.
If you suspect the illegal sale of fireworks in the borough, you can report this directly to trading.standards@newham.gov.u
If you wish to report an urgent crime in progress associated with fireworks, please contact 999. Alternatively, If you have been a victim of an incident involving fireworks, please report it to the Metropolitan Police on 101 (https://www.met.police.uk/).
For further information on firework licensing, please visit https://www.newham.gov.uk/business-licensing-regulation/fireworks-storage-selling-licence