Poundland to stop selling Chinese lanterns

Poundland will stop selling Chinese lanterns after one, not sold by the company, sparked a huge fire.

More than 200 firefighters attended a blaze involving 100,000 tonnes of plastic in Smethwick, West Midlands on Sunday.

“We have made a decision to stop selling lanterns and recalled all remaining stock from stores,” a spokesperson said.

The government has refused to ban the lanterns nationwide.

A spokesperson said they cause a "very small" number of fires.

I think it’s interesting that somebody somewhere, in trying to rationalise why Chinese lanterns shouldn’t be banned, came up with the sentence that they only cause a very small number of fires.  

Which is stupid because the point is they cause fires, like the giant blaze at Smethwick on Sunday, so if that’s the best defence for Chinese lanterns then they should be banned.

Aside from the fact that they are a fire hazard, I just don’t see the point of them there’s no special reason for them, they’re only paper bags with a candle in, so it makes it even more confusing why the government won’t do the sensible thing and ban them.