A shopkeeper in Eastcote has admitted selling a firework outside the permitted period of sale after being caught red-handed by Hillingdon Council's trading standards team.

Eastcote Stores Ltd, trading as Budgens, and the company's director, Thambidurai Piruthuviraj, admitted the charge at Uxbridge Magistrates Court on Tuesday, August 19.

Laws controlling the sale of fireworks at certain times of the year came into force in 2004 in order to reduce the nuisance caused when they are not used properly.

Fireworks cannot be sold between November 10 and December 26 unless a shop has a licence, which costs £500.

But the Eastcote Budgens had no such licence and on December 17 last year, a council trading standards officer was still able to buy a firework.

Leaflets, posters and a temporary chalk board on the pavement outside the shop in Field End Road, advertised the fireworks for sale.

Cllr Jonathan Bianco, cabinet member for finance, property and business services, said: "Misusing fireworks can have serious consequences, which is why the government introduced laws to regulate where and when they are sold.

"There is no excuse for a shop to sell fireworks outside the permitted time period and Hillingdon Council is committed to protecting local people by taking businesses to court when they do not follow the rules."

The company and Mr Piruthuviraj were each fined £180 and ordered to pay costs of £553, as well as a £20 victim surcharge. 

The chalkboard advertising the sale of fireworks inside Eastcote Budgens outside the permitted time perios

Six traders in the borough have paid the £500 to licence their premises for the sale of fireworks all year round.

Otherwise, shops can only sell fireworks from October 15 to November 10, from December 26 to 31, on the day of Diwali and the 3 days preceding it, and on the first day of the Chinese New Year and the 3 days preceding it.

People must not set off fireworks between 11pm and 7am. The exceptions are on Bonfire Night, when the cut off point is midnight, and New Year’s Eve, Diwali and Chinese New Year, when they are allowed to be launched until 1am.