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Police urge parents to check bags for fireworks

Haider SaleemNorth West
News imageBBC Image shows a collection of used fireworks on a pavement. BBC
Police said a child had been detained in connection with fireworks being fired at members of the public

Police are urging parents to check their children's bags after a teenager was found with a rucksack full of fireworks.

Police said the youngster had been seen firing fireworks at vehicles and was detained.

They said parents should "have the conversation" with their children ahead of Halloween and bonfire night.

Sefton Council leader Marion Atkinson has called for tighter regulations to stop children getting hold of fireworks, saying some were "like bombs going off".

News imageSefton Council leader Marion Atkinson looks directly at the camera in a head-and-shoulders photograph. She has long brown hair and is wearing a patterned blouse
Sefton Council leader Marion Atkinson has called for tighter restrictions on fireworks to prevent children getting hold of them

Speaking on BBC Radio Merseyside's Hot Seat programme, Atkinson said: "I would like to see much more regulation on them, so these kids can't get hold of them."

Asked if she supported banning the sale of fireworks in supermarkets and high-street shops, she instead encouraged people to attend professional displays.

Current rules prohibit the sale of most fireworks to under-18s and make it illegal for them to possess fireworks in public.

Setting off or throwing fireworks in streets and other public places is also illegal.

Police asked anyone with information about people supplying fireworks to young people to contact them

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