A TEENAGER from Bury who lost his hand while handling a large firework believes it is still too easy for youngsters to get hold of dangerous fireworks.

Stuart Harvey-Hamilton suffered the serious injury four years ago when he went back to a lit rocket.

Stuart, now aged 19, runs his own plastering company, but says he is lucky to be alive after the horrific accident.

He said: "Kids won't listen to anybody about the dangers of fireworks and will always try to get hold of them.

"Shops need to do more to make sure they are not available to kids but I don't think that banning fireworks would be the answer.

"It would create a black market and you could end up with more dangerous fireworks on the street." Stuart, of Green Street, Bury, was 15 when he returned to the rocket that he had already lit in an empty building at Elton High School in November, 2002.

As he picked up the firework to see why it had not ignited, it exploded in his hand, ripping it apart and injuring his wrist, face, ears and chest. He needed a series of operations at a specialist burns unit at Wythenshawe Hospital to rebuild part of his hand and restore his hearing.

He began a plastering course at Bolton College less than a year after the accident and says he has learned to cope without his hand.

"I was lucky that I wasn't more seriously hurt or even killed, but my warning to children would be to avoid fireworks completely or you could end up like me, or worse," he added.

  • Environment Agency enforcement officers will be on the prowl for waste cheats using community or large bonfires as a cover to flytip or burn rubbish illegally.