LETTER:The battle of Guy Fawkes

From Mr Roy Deane

Sir: Last night, I stood on my doorstep and listened to the sound of a major gun-battle taking place in the streets around me. It has been the same every night for the past two or three weeks. I can close my eyes and imagine that I am in Sarajevo.

The truth is that I live in the East End of Newcastle and the "gunfire" is the incessant sound of fireworks being let off in the surrounding neighbourhood.

When will sanity prevail and the sale of these annoying and dangerous items be banned for ever? The ones I hear night after night are being bought not by responsible adults but by young hooligans who go scuttling into the shadows as each new explosion echoes down the street.

If the Guy Fawkes farce must be preserved, let's make it licensed public displays only and prohibit the sale of fireworks to everyone else.

Yours sincerely,

Roy Deane

Newcastle upon Tyne

30 October