General Chat

it puzzles me that now if you let off fireworks at any time of the year apart from november the 5th or new year or chinese new year you can be fined £ 5000.00 and 6months in jail.i'm all for banning fireworks apart from the times mentioned but how can you justify someonethat is using a mobile phone and driving can be fined just thirty pounds and endorse penalty points on their licence even though they can seriously injure someone or even kill someone while doing this.also in my area you can be fine £1000.00 for dog fouling aswell.where's the justice?

where do you live Lisa? Jo.

in southsea portsmouth hampshire.

theresa only came in to force this week.

What a puzzle, there were loud bangs here the other day. Joy (Hampshire)

joy it is an offence now so they are breaking the law!

there should be a ban before eleven as people in my area still let off fireworks before then.

I used to love watching fireworks. I still do like to see them. Unfortunately the loud bang frightens me now - since the airbag went off in the car crash I had last year. Thank goodness it worked ... otherwise ... Any suggestions to stop me being frightened, please? Joy

Lisa But has anyone actually been fined £1000 for dog fouling? I bet not. I think it may be the corporation that has instigated that fine threat. maybe dog fouling was a real problem on the common and they had to threaten a large fine because of tourism and the danger to children who play on the common. You also don' t hear of many fines for using a mobile phone in the car, so no doubt the fine for fireworks wont be actually used either. It i all a bit of a farce really. Ann Glos

The problem with this new law is,that they have to catch the people letting them off first.there are no police around when the fireworks are being let off,Also the fireworks should only be sold Bonfire night,Chinese New year night and the warehouses or shops should have trading standards officers going in to do checks that the shopkeepers and warehouse staff are not selling fireworks to under 18's. As for the fine it shouldn't be £5000 and 6 months in prison more like £500. When this new law came in about not using Mobile phones while driving,I asked a policemanif the public could report drivers that use mobiles and he told me NO it had to be the police that had to see the driver using the mobiles for a prosecution.A young woman was using her mobile the other day while driving on a very narrow village road and she actually came up onto the pavement and nearly knocked me over while I was waiting for the bus to come home from work,if I had not jumped out of the way she would have bowled me over.If they kill someone while using a mobile they should do what they do in USA/CANADA,Have the drivers for vehicular manslaughter AND MAKE THE OFFENDER SERVE THE FULL TIME IN JAIL. Sue

ther are dog wardens in my area and i have seen them stop people but there probebly only giving warnings.i think they are only doing this to keep people happy.

It's like most laws - only any use if it is implemented and generally only people like you and me would take noticeof it. There are those that will thumb their noses at any law claiming that it infringes their human rights! Trouble is they get away with it and we give them damages to compensate!!! It's about time we stopped being bleeding hearts and clamp down hard. We need to do away with sections of the Human Rights Act for a start - I don't think it was meant to cover pillows being hard in prison etc etc. Shall get off my soapbox now lol Magsx

A lorry driver got five years last December for causing the death of a motorcyclist due to using a mobile. It's a bit late when this happens. I am a school bus escort and this is true. We followed a woman on the mobile and pulled up at the lights. Opening the door I said "do you know that's illegal?" "oh you don't know the problems I have...." she says, I cut her off "I am not interested in your problems love , I'm interested in people like you not killing schoolchildren" "I haven't killed anybody" she says I closed the door. We had a policeman on here a while back saying they were enforcing the law. I haven’t heard of any convictions , has anyone?? Bob

mags i agree with you on this subject and acts of terrorism aswell.when people are bought to book.the lawyers acting for them start spouting on about human rights .well all i can say is what about the terrorism that was caused in america on september 11th where thousands died through no fault of their own.what about there human rights?i think that anyone could start harping on about there human rights when they get trap in a corner when they have done something wrong.start thinking about the people that should be claiming their human rights.the victims

no bob i haven't either.i still think that if you kill someone whilst driving and using a mobile phone then you should be charged with manslaugter.the sentances arn't stiff enough.that person has taken a human life and the families of the victim have to live with that for the rest of their lives.

i don't want to be a killjoy, but I am glad about the ban. It is ok on Nov 5th, but the celebrations seem to start a week before Halloween and carry on until end of November. With a two year old child, I dread that time of year, because she has weeks of disturbances at bed time. If it were just 5 nov then we could explain about it and let her watch out of the window, but it just goes on for too long a period for that. Here is hoping people will comply and all of us trying to get young children off to sleep will have a quieter time of it this year.

ann i agree.the fireworks are sold weeks before firework night but i feel they should be sold a week before the event.the ones that are not sold should not be sold after that time and as for new year the same should apply.done in some shops where i live they sell the fireworks at half price which children will buy.

Bob, Both my daughter and son in law are police officers and they are just as mad about the mobile phone 'law' as you are. According to whichever force you speak to, further action is either mandatory or 'discretionary' if someones caught on their mobile when driving. Even they haven't got firm guidelines!! Now me - I must be naive - I thought a law was a law not a flexible rule. The law was brought in but the courts couldn't cope with the outcome - madness! I would suggest that they confiscate the phone whether they intend taking any further action or not - but - human rights again ! Magsx P.S. - nice one with the woman driver - well done you

must be very frustrating for them.it probebly applies to all sorts of crimes and offences.the police would like more done but the courts are too soft on them.where i work my company would not procecute someone who shoplifted in the shop because once it got to court they would let them off with a slap on the wrist.

Lisa - and that's why people keep doing it! There should be a set sentence for everything and none of this time of for good behaviour lark. When someone is sentenced to 5 years - they know they only have to serve half of it - where's the deterrent in that? Ooops - sorry - forgot we haven't got enough prisons to keep them in! Silly me. Mags