A CONFIDENTIAL telephone hotline has been launched to help stamp out illicit firework sales.

The Middlesbrough Council initiative is in response to growing reports of people selling fireworks from home, so avoiding the strict safety regulations contained in the Explosives Act which governs shop sales.

Council and fire chiefs are concerned at the threat to safety of homes being turned into unlicensed firework stores.

Stickers giving details of the hotline - (01642) 728002 - will be displayed by shops licensed to sell fireworks, council and public buildings across the town.

Welcoming the move, John Woodhead, chairman of the British Fireworks Association, said: "We urge the people of Middlesbrough to support the trading standards hotline initiative which is, as far as we know, the first of its kind in Britain.

"Buying cheap fireworks from illegal sources is not smart and the public should do the safe thing and go to bona fide retailers.''

Any information received would be followed up, said the council, with the illegal fireworks being seized and the culprits responsible taken to court.

Councillor Barry Coppinger, executive Middlesbrough Council member for law and order, said: "Even before the launch of this line we have received allegations concerning a number of addresses which are being followed up by trading standards staff.

"Obviously, the more people who call the line, the clearer the picture we will have of this problem - and the better chance we have of stamping it out."

Assistant divisional fire officer Ian Gibson said: "Fireworks pose a danger to anyone who may be in that property and a potential hazard to fire crews called to an incident at the scene. We understand some particularly nasty fireworks have entered the country from abroad."

Octogenarian firework safety campaigner Pearl Hall claims crackdowns on the sale of fireworks announced by both Middlesbrough and Redcar and Cleveland councils are only the result of a growing campaign for a complete ban on the sale of fireworks.

"The campaign is growing momentum and I don't think without the support of the many readers of The Northern Echo this would have happened and I want to thank them for their letters and support," she said.