HAVING seen and heard the terrible effects of the free-for-all which took place on Guy Fawkes Night this year, City of York Council must take immediate action to ban the use of fireworks in private gardens and on public land.

As for the appalling madness of the November 6 display at the racecourse stands (and the one three weeks earlier which was put on as a wedding party treat) these disgraceful events must never again be allowed.

Every floor in my house shook. It was like being in the Blitz.

When the council used to mount displays in the middle of the Knavesmire, well away from trees and houses, it was nevertheless a waste of money, as it merely added to the overall problem.

But fireworks have developed since then, and there is now an urgent need for a sensibly-judged official council display, accompanied by a strictly enforced blanket ban on all other firework use, both official and unofficial.

Never mind 'freedom of choice'. Never mind' the rights of the individual'. Our children have the right to keep their hearing.

All that matters is that such a ban is implemented before any further aural and nervous-system damage is done to the young and helpless, and before an entire generation of hearing-impaired citizens is produced, with all the tragedy and all the costs which this would entail.

Simon Davies,

Bishopthorpe Road, York.

Updated: 09:48 Wednesday, November 10, 2004