THE first fine for selling fireworks to underage children in Edinburgh has been dished out to a city centre shop.
Edinburgh Bargain Stores was caught out by a city council trading standards operation last October where youngsters aged 15 or 16 were sent into shops across the Capital to try and buy fireworks.
The shop on St Patrick Square was one of four out
of 20 shops tested where sales to underage volunteers were made.
Owners Saeed and Waheed Qadir both pleaded guilty to the charge of selling fireworks to someone under 18 at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last week and were fined £500 each.
The other three unamed shops are expected to come to court over the coming months.
City leaders have been using youngsters to test purchase fireworks sales, along with other items such as alcohol and cigarettes, since 2002. Nearly half of the shops tested in the first year of this initiative were found to be selling fireworks illegally but the rate has been gradually dropping over recent years, though it did double to 20 per cent last year.
Edinburgh Bargain Stores today said the person sent in by the council was "borderline" 18-years-old but added they have put their minimum age for buying fireworks up to 20-years-old to avoid any further confusion.
City leaders today expressed disappointment that a fifth of retailers had failed their tests.
Waheed Qadir, a partner in Edinburgh Bargain Stores, said: "As we explained to trading standards, we usually ask people for ID but on this occasion the person sent in was borderline 18 so we never asked.
"In fact, someone else had just been in before and they had been asked for ID but it never happened this time.
"We have been selling fireworks for something like ten years and we have never had any problems before, we don't want to see these things sold to under age people.
"We have changed our own policy to go beyond the law and say that people have to be at least 20 now before buying fireworks from us."
Tough regulations were introduced across Scotland five years ago to combat the misuse of fireworks, including a curfew prohibiting anyone from setting them off between 11pm and 7am.
The only nights exempt from the curfew are Bonfire Night, Hogmanay, Chinese New Year and the Hindu Festival of Light.
This year council officials will be out between 15 October and 10 November carrying out a test purchase programme with the use of volunteers aged 15 or 16-and-a-half-years-old.
Councillor Robert Aldridge, the city's environment leader, said: "I am concerned that a fifth of retailers we tested sold fireworks to young people regardless of age. This behaviour is unacceptable. Fireworks can cause serious injury and can kill so we must ensure that they are not being sold illegally to children. I hope these fines will serve as a stark warning that retailers must abide by the legislation."
The full article contains 504 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
