A CRACKDOWN on the sale of fireworks could lead to a dangerous black market trade in illegal imports, it has been claimed.

David Hodgson, a director of Celebration Fireworks in Middlesbrough, last night warned that the Government's proposed Fireworks Bill would increase the likelihood of people buying dangerous illegal imports from rogue traders with possible fatal consequences.

"Illegal fireworks will be going on sale on the Internet and then people are going to be losing fingers, thumbs and all sorts," he said.

"At present, trading standards can go and check that fireworks in the shops meet British standards, but there will be none of that if they are banned.

"It might lessen the number of accidents, but when they do happen it will be much worse and there will be more fatalities."

New regulations proposed under the Fireworks Bill will include a ban on sales apart from a month-long window around November 5, noise restrictions and a curfew of 11pm for their use.

The move is in response to the growing number of complaints from people who feel fireworks have become a year-round nuisance.

The Castle Players drama company, of Barnard Castle, County Durham, has already decided not to stage its annual fireworks display at Bowes Museum for its Elizabethan Experience in July.

Members are pre-empting the changes in the law and have in the past received complaints from horse owners who had to move their animals when fireworks were set off.

The Private Member's Bill, backed by the Government, is also believed to be in response to the increasing sophistication of fireworks which have become more advanced and powerful.

Last September, a high-powered rocket set fire to a tenth-floor flat in Heaton, Newcastle, after flying through an open window and exploding, badly damaging the flat.

But Mr Hodgson, who will maintain his wholesale and retail business despite the changes, said the only people who will benefit were those who import fireworks from abroad.

He feared people would stockpile fireworks to save them for special occasions, which could prove potentially deadly in the event of a fire.