Marks & Spencer will stop selling disposable barbecues in all their UK stores after firefighters’ plea
- In July the London Fire Brigade demanded an urgent ban on all disposable barbecues after the series of wildfires across the capital
- Marks & Spencer has today announced they will remove them from all UK stores
- This follows the company’s ban on the sale of the barbecues in London and near national parks
Marks & Spencer has today announced it will ban the sale of disposable barbecues across all its UK stores.
This follows a plea by the London Fire Brigade to retailers to stop selling them after a wave of wildfires in the July heatwave.
The authority said it had attended more than 1,000 grass fires since June because of the hot weather which topped 40C.
M&S tweeted: ‘We’d already stopped selling disposable barbecues near national parks and in London but given the unusually hot and dry conditions, we’ve taken the precautionary step of removing them from sale across the UK.’
The London Fire Brigade praised M&S for taking action.
It said: ‘Good news! @marksandspencer have announced they’ve removed disposable barbecues from stores. We want to work with retailers to stop the sale of disposable barbecues and reduce the risk of dangerous grass fires.’
Disposable barbecues like the one above were responsible for starting a large number of fires in July during the heatwave as people gathered outdoors
Marks & Spencer today tweeted they will extend their ban on the sale of disposable barbecues across all UK stores, not just London
The London Fire Brigade praised the retailer for banning the popular summer item and said doing so will reduce the risk of grass fires
New statistics show that week commencing Monday, 18 July the Brigade received 8,302 calls and attended 3,231 incidents.
In addition firefighters attended more than 1,000 fires.
The number of 999 calls received was more than double taken for the same period last year.
Thirty-four grass fires required an attendance of four fire engine and above.
London’s Fire Commissioner Andy Roe has previously called for a total ban on disposable barbecues following recent hot weather.
He said they cause a ‘significant fire risk’ if they are not put out properly as they can cause grass fires in open spaces.
In addition, disposable barbecues also pose a health risk and heat can be retained for many hours after a barbecue has been put out.
Commissioner Andy Roe said: ‘Despite our grass fire warnings, we’ve still seen some people behaving carelessly and recklessly.
‘On Saturday (23rd July) firefighters prevented a serious blaze at Wanstead Flats caused using a disposable barbecue.
‘We need urgent action now to see a national ban on the sale of disposable barbecues.
‘They can be bought for as little as five pounds and can cause untold damage, especially when the grass is as dry as it has been over the last few weeks.
‘Last week is another example of how we are increasingly being challenged by new extremes of weather as our climate changes and we’re developing long-term strategies to deal with more incidents like this in the future.’
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