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Under 16s Banned From Buying Festive Crackers

Fri, 10 Dec 2010

Britons under the age of 16 have been banned from buying Christmas crackers under new health and safety regulations.

The traditional Christmas Day item was put into category one of the Pyrotechnic Articles (Safety) Regulations by the government in August, meaning they can only be sold to those aged 16 and over.

The new rules also mean that any retailer of high street store caught unlawfully selling crackers could face fines of up to £5,000, while individual shop assistants could be jailed for six months.

Companies are being urged to adopt the Challenge 25 policy, where people who look under the age of 25 are asked for identification when trying to purchase age-limited items.

Jane Bevis, director of public affairs at the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said: "The Government has promised to ease up on regulations on businesses but this one seems to have slipped through the net."

"No one wants children to be able to buy things which are dangerous or bad for their health, but extending rules for fireworks to cover the kind of bang provided by a cracker seems particularly daft."

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