Le Maitre - Perfectly Legal But Boy Does It Suck

[Bryson]

I used to live close to HFM Pyrotechnics when I was a kid.  One time a friend of mine and I were taking a walk and spotted a small fire in the bin just outside the HFM building/yard.  We called 999 from a payphone (yes, it was a long time ago, why do you ask?) who seemed mostly disinterested until they realized who occupied that address.  Then we got 4 fire engines, lights and sirens, for a small bin fire...

To be clear, the fire was unrelated to HFM's activities - in fact it was a Sunday so they were shut, but it was close enough to their premises that the fire brigade took it very seriously indeed.

[paulears]

In Belfast, I got into serious trouble because we didn't have a licence for the panto pyros. The Police Service of Northern Ireland take explosives extremely seriously, and I did my best to comply with their regulations, and they supervise. It's necessary to let them know exactly what you have, and how it will be re-stocked - so the NEQ levels are not exceeded, and they visit to spot check. In addition, the explosives licence is in my name, not the production company's so that tends to focus the responsibility. It's not my finger on the button, but if anyone was hurt, or, I suppose if the stock was stolen, then it is me to carry the can. Le Maitre were equally unaware of the different law in NI, and they'd been shipping product to the province for years without licences. 

My history was big tins of powder, a teaspoon or so of it in a hollow banged into a piece of 2x2 with a hammer with a piece of mic cable braid as a fuse under the powder, fired with mains. I don't even remember who showed me how to even do this? Pods were a novel introduction. I never gave any thought to the factory that produced them.

[KevinE]

Quote

Who is/was it, by the way?

I shan't mention names as I think they're still in business but they are/were in Staffordshire. It was on the midlands news.

Edited April 19, 2023 by KevinE

[gareth]

1 hour ago, KevinE said:

I think they're still in business

If they were 'often having fires and explosions', that's surprising to say the least!

[Simon Lewis]

As far as the Staffordshire based company is concerned, Companies House shows it as having been dissolved....

 

[kerry davies]

If it is SP Fireworks, Stafford then the case resulted in a ten year jail sentence for corporate manslaughter and all associated companies were dissolved. That was an example of total disregard of licences, the law and an abnegation of responsibility. I believe that trading standards were already trying to shut them down as they were inspecting frequently. 

Quote

... just two weeks before the explosion, the site held around 100kg, well within the 250kg maximum allowed by his licence.

... three days before the fatal blast, the company took stock of 1,141 boxes of fireworks, weighing 20,000kg, and 18 boxes of mortars in a shipment from China.

 

[Simon Lewis]

In looking around the web, I came across an SP Fireworks based in Middlesborough (and apparently still trading), who state they only put in displays and cannot sell fireworks (look for their Facebook page if you use that platform).
I have no idea if they are connected at all, but if not, having the same name doesn't sit well for those who know of the accident in Stafford.
Even if there is nothing connecting them, some of the pictures do not tend to inspire confidence...  

[KevinE]

Alot of people are mentioning liability insurance but depending on the court's outcome, the insurance company might deem that the conditions of the insurance were breached and the insurance is therefore void.

As an example I organised liability insurance for my father's business and the list of prerequisites or endorsements to their off the shelf policy were very comprehensive and I had to get some of them removed, he has a workshop full of circular and crosscut saws, routers, morticers, bandsaws and power hacksaws, and despite the insurer being told what the insurance was for, there was a clause in the initial proposal stating it did not cover accidents involving 'rotating woodworking machinery'. Now that it does, it only covers the machinery if all the correct signage is in place and the correct PPE is enforced. Sounds like common sense but I bet it would be easy for them to wriggle out on a technicality.

 

 

[gareth]

7 minutes ago, Simon Lewis said:

I came across an SP Fireworks based in Middlesborough

A quick 'stalk' around that particular FB page suggests that this particular SP Fireworks is just some chap who likes buying retail fireworks for his own 'back garden' displays, and has set up a FB page to pretend to be a big-shot display company 😆. He probably doesn't even realise he's picked a name which he shares with an ex-company who were best known for killing two of their employees...

[kerry davies]

I sent that page a link to the newspaper report, Gareth, seems only fair. 

[neild]

Just to bump this a little, as a small scale user... Having had real issues with stock availability and product reliability from Le Maitre over the past  few years, I can thoroughly recommend the lovely people at Illusion Pyrotechnics. They've been able to supply alternatives to any of the 'regular' products we've required recently, and have always 'thrown in' the adaptors to suit LM firing gear. We had a 100% successful fire rate since using Illusion. Not something we've had for years with Le Maitre. 

 

It's great that there is a meaningful alternative coming onto the market. 🙂

[alistermorton]

Thanks, worth knowing.