IN the aftermath of a Netherlands fireworks disaster which devastated a town and killed around 20 people, a North Yorkshire fireworks expert said it could not happen here.

Residents of Enschede, near the German border, are attempting to come to terms with the tragedy in which a massive explosion and ensuing fires razed huge parts of their town to the ground. Rescue workers think some could still be buried alive under the rubble.

York has two fireworks companies, Firepower in Murray Street and G-Force Fireworks in Firbank Close, Strensall. There is also Ferrensby Fireworks, in Hawthorne Avenue, Knaresborough, but none of these companies is allowed to store explosives in residential areas.

Jago Packer, who ran his own York-based fireworks display company Jago fireworks and then joined Bright Star Fireworks, based at Ripon, said British regulations are already incredibly strict and are being tightened all the time.

Mr Packer, whose fireworks store for Jago Fireworks was at Seaton Ross, said: "That sort of thing shouldn't happen in this country because the rules and regulations are very, very strict to the extent they almost prevent somebody from setting up a business.

"The health and safety regulations are very strict with regards to location of stores and what goes on there as well.

"The big problem for anyone trying to do fireworks is finding somewhere out of the way and safe to store them and the regulations are getting stricter all the time.

"When I worked for Bright Star they had their store in an old military bomb store miles from anywhere.

"The locations of these stores are usually kept a secret for theft reasons."

Mr Packer said he was shocked when he heard of the tragedy in Enschede.

He said: "I was horrified by the fact of the location - I couldn't believe that they'd been given planning permission to store in a residential area."