CHINESE LANTERNS - they are a danger

[tintinthegingertomcat]

I have been saying for years that although these Chinese lanterns look beautiful in the night sky.....they were an accident waiting to happen. Now in the West Midlands (Smethwick) a recycling plant has gone up in flames (made national news yesterday morning) with approx. six million pounds worth of damage....the cause.....Chinese lantern.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DO NOT BUY AND RELEASE THESE LANTERNS.....NEXT TIME IT COULD BE A HOUSE WITH PEOPLE ASLEEP IN OR A BARN WITH ANIMALS IN....OR IN THE CASE OF THIS FACTORY MILLIONS OF POUNDS WORTH OF DAMAGE PUTTING PEOPLES LIVES AND JOBS AT RISK.

Could you all try and get others you know to stop buying and releasing these lanterns.

Many thanks

[peteryola]

There already are some regulations, for example it is an offence to release them within a certain distance of an airport ( I think it's 10 miles but I'll have to check ), but nobody takes any notice of that and worse, nobody tries to enforce that either!

[ilove2patch]

They were saying on the radio today that they get chopped into the cattle silage & the cows eat the wire pieces.:-(

[merc1_clocks]

OMG...nasty nasty X-(

[chickengrandma-2008]

There was a chap on the news telling about his cow that died they did a biopsy and a piece of the wire had perforated it's stomach and pierced it's lung.  It had a three week old calf.:-(

[ringo*boy]

I can only agree with the OP.  I have never bought Chinese Lanterns but found myself in a New Year celebration this year where they were 'lit and sent'.  We were in country surroundings and when one burst into flames within 10 seconds of being released, I didn't know whether the barn, local housing, the sheep or my dog would be a victim of such reckless behaviour.  

I followed that burning lantern and spent 30 minutes tracking where it had had plummeted to the ground. It was still flaming as it dropped from the sky.  

We don't need Chinese lanterns to celebrate good friends and family.

Like Maggiepatch, I am also opposed to private firework displays and will continue to protest against them until we change the legislation.  When I was a child, fireworks were only allowed on 5th November and special dispensation was given to release fireworks either side of this date for an organised Bonfire Night display.  These days, we have fireworks for birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, new year, dinner parties, pageants and the Olympic Games, 

[ginap.123]

Unfortunately all the rules & regulations regarding these things and fireworks will never do anything unless they are actually policed.

The law regarding fireworks says that none should be set off after 11.00pm. I live near a large Asian area where everything seems to be celebrated with fireworks.These often don't start until late at night & go on for hours (god knows where they get the money from), no one ever stops them & I can't see the police being very happy to be called out because someone is letting fireworks off after the legal time.

[tintinthegingertomcat]

I used to live in the centre of Leicester and at Diwali and 5th November it was an absolute nightmare....sometimes the fireworks (and I use the word fireworks very loosely as they were more like mortar bombs going off) went off until 3am. One year our local evening newspaper was inundated with complaint letters about these "fireworks".

it used to be that only one night of the year you had to make sure your family pets were safe indoors....nowadays it is difficult to monitor keeping the animals indoors....I hate the left over fireworks found in the street afterwards

BAN FIREWORKS AND CHINESE LANTERNS - FULL STOP.

[tintinthegingertomcat]

I have just read on BBC news (cant post the link cause I don't know how to LOL) that Poundland are now no longer selling Chinese lanterns....please let's hope that other companies follow suit. At least this is a start in the right direction.

[merc1_clocks]

It certainly is tintin :-x

[kiss*my*pixel]

Pesky things - I get so cross when we are with a gathering of people and they light them. It's hard to say anything without sounding like a Victor Meldrew though.

Hate fireworks too - we live fairly close to a Theme Park which sets them off several times a year for various reasons. Also some inconsiderate neighbours who set them off for all sorts of occasions, with no warning at all - plays havoc with the pets! Grrrrrr X-(

[mcruk]

I asked eBay he same thing and because they didn't understand they seems ignorant to my request ( plus they get the sales commission so no incentive to ban sales )

It was a shocking issue recently I will re pursue this how are you getting on with a ban " world wide sales " such as that on 18650 lithium battery on ebay 100% ban effective and enforced .