This is the column in which Brent and Harrow Trading Standards Officer STEVE PLAYLE offers readers tips on how to become wiser consumers.

This month he looks at fireworks and how recent changes in the law may help to reduce personal injuries and also make your neighbourhood a little quieter at this time of year.

Fireworks are fun, most people would agree. They provide a spectacular climax to any big occasion, quite apart from Guy Fawkes Night, Diwali and, increasingly, on New Year's Eve. But as we all know, there is a more sinister side to fireworks caused primarily by the explosive mixture of gunpowder and children. Total injuries last year fell by a third to 908, the lowest since 1991. This is encouraging, but I am afraid that 256 of these injuries were caused by firework hooliganism.

This year, the Government has said that all fireworks intended to be sold to the public must comply with tough British Standards specifications for the first time. Fireworks with erratic flight, bangers, aerial shells and jumping crackers have been banned, and larger, display type fireworks cannot now be sold to the general public. Coupled with the increase in the minimum age for buying fireworks from 16 to 18, it is widely anticipated that the number of injuries will fall again. I am particularly pleased at the ban on bangers which I am hopeful (but not convinced) will mean that I can relax at night in front of the box for the next couple of weeks without jumping out of my skin every two minutes.

Brent and Harrow trading standards officers will be doing their bit to reduce the national accident statistics by checking that under 18-year-olds cannot buy fireworks. Like it or not, we do this by sending 12 to 15-year-olds into retailers with a crisp £10 note.

To some retailers, the temptation is just too much and they will quite happily take the cash without any regard for the consequences. Those that do, as well as facing the certainty of prosecution, should be banned from trading for life and then flogged in public. An extreme viewpoint maybe, but in my book the totally irresponsible action of giving a child a small bomb to play with calls for an equally irresponsible reaction.

It's probably better to attend a properly organised public display. But if you must have fireworks at home, be careful. Follow the firework code at all times and please make sure that all pets are kept indoors.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000.Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.