Middleton Garden Centre fined for illegal firework sale

The All-in-One Garden Centre in Middleton has been ordered to pay over £2,500 in fines and costs after it sold fireworks to underage volunteers.

The company was in Rochdale Council’s Good Guy retailer scheme, which sees businesses sign up to a voluntary code of conduct designed to keep young people safe around Bonfire Night, when they sold fireworks to two underage volunteers on October 29 last year.

Good Guy retailers publicly pledge not to sell fireworks to anyone under the age of 18 as part of a range of measures to protect people and minimise disruption in communities.

The company’s membership was immediately revoked and the fireworks seized before the council’s public protection and legal teams launched an investigation.

The Rochdale-Road-based Garden Centre was ordered to pay costs of £1,100 and a fine of £1,545 after pleading guilty to breaching the Consumer Protection Act 1987 at Bury and Rochdale Magistrates’ Court on 22 July.

Councillor Cecile Biant, Cabinet Member for Regulation at Rochdale Borough Council, said: “We took immediate action against the All-in-One because we viewed the breach as all the more serious coming from a company who had publicly pledged to abide by the law as part of our Good Guy scheme. We hope this will serve as a warning to other retailers who sell age restricted products. They carry a lot of responsibility and we expect them to take that seriously.”