Traders Caught Selling Fireworks to Under-Aged
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Pictured here is the Armageddon 500 shot barrage firework which was illegally sold to a minor. It is shown here against a Mini car tyre to depict its size. |
Three shops selling fireworks to 15 and 16-year-olds in the run-up to bonfire night last year have been made to pay heavy financial penalties at Bexley Magistrates' Court on 9 June.
Roger White, who set up a temporary shop at 28, Crayford High Street, was fined £2,000 and told to pay the London Borough of Bexley's Trading Standards £550 costs, after selling a 16-year-old boy a £20 pack of rockets on 26 October 2007. Mr White, 68, of Kingsworthy Close, Kingston, Surrey, failed to appear at Court and the magistrates found the case proved in his absence.
Two Discount City shops at 216 Bexley Road, Northumberland Heath and 113 Welling High Street sold large fireworks, each costing about £30, to two other children on 23 October and 25 October respectively. One, an Armageddon 500 shot barrage firework, was the size of a Mini car tyre. Mr Philip Bottomley, 49, of Valley Road, Fawkham, Kent, and owner of both shops, was fined £1,100 with £200 costs. He appeared in Court to plead guilty and explain that he expected his staff to use their common sense in determining the age of purchasers.
None of the traders asked the children their age or for any identification. They have been told that in future they should ask purchasers for ID if they think they might be under 21. This should prevent them accidentally selling to children they mistakenly think are over 18.
