Firework petition handed in to Downing Street

A campaigner who will hand-deliver a petition with one million signatures to Downing Street calling for tighter firework restrictions said it has been "a long time coming".

Campaigner Julie Doorne, from Grantham, Lincolnshire, launched her petition on Change.org in 2018 to call for an urgent review on firework rules to safeguard people, animals and pets from injury and distress.

"It's a whole raft of people, animals and wildlife that are affected."

The retired mother-of-five will be handing her petition, which has more than 1,069,000 signatures, directly to Downing Street at 3pm on Tuesday, ahead of Bonfire Night.

She is calling for the private use of fireworks to be restricted to traditional dates, such as Guy Fawkes' Night on November 5, New Year's Eve, Chinese New Year and Diwali.

Ms Doorne is also calling for the maximum permitted decibels for fireworks to be reduced from 120 to 97, for all public firework displays to be licensed, and for packaging on fireworks to include information on noise level to allow for consumer choice.

"I'm excited about going, I'm nervous about going but I think it's been a long time coming," Ms Doorne, who has four horses and two cats, told the PA news agency.

"This petition has been running for six years and this is just another step - it might be the beginning of the end, but it isn't the end.

"We need to get more awareness to let more people know what happens when they set off fireworks and the person on the receiving end hasn't been warned.

"It's a whole raft of people, animals and wildlife that are affected."

Ms Doorne said representatives from several charities, such as the RSPCA, Dogs Trust and Redwings Horse Sanctuary, will be attending her petition delivery on Tuesday in support.

"We're going to keep going until hopefully something changes because it can't go on like it is," she said.

Ms Doorne recalled one occasion where fireworks were being set off near the stables on her property, saying her horses were "running themselves round and round in circles" with the noise.

"The Government say people are responsible and they use fireworks safely, and they may use them safely for themselves, but how can they say how safe it is for my horse?" she said.

"How can they say it's safe for the little girl down the road who has autism?

"It's not safe for some people, it's not safe for guide dogs, assistance dogs or other pets."

Petitions with 100,000 signatures or more are considered for debate in Parliament, according to the Government's website, and Ms Doorne hopes her appeal will be taken further and more awareness will be raised for her cause.

"I want to say a massive thank you to everybody who signed our one million petition and please continue to support us," she said.

"I've heard so many stories of so many sad things, so many awful things, and you cannot imagine the impact fireworks have."

Current laws allow people to purchase fireworks from registered sellers for private use between October 15 and November 10, December 26 to 31, and three days before Diwali and Chinese New Year, according to the Government's website.

"We're going to keep going until hopefully something changes because it can't go on like it is,"

It is against the law for anyone to set off fireworks between 11pm and 7am, except for on Bonfire Night when the cut off is midnight, and on New Year's Eve, Diwali and Chinese New Year, when the cut off is 1am.

According to Change.org, more than 2.6 million people have signed a total of 880 petitions on their site calling for stricter firework regulations in the UK.

Campaigners say fireworks have detrimental impacts on animals, children and people with mental health struggles, and petitions call for the use of silent fireworks and limits to organised displays.

To find out more, visit Ms Doorne's petition at: change.org/p/officeforsands-review-firework-rules-to-protect-animals-from-injury-and-distress.

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