A SHOP in Eastcote admitted selling a firework outside the permitted period of sale after being caught red-handed by Hillingdon's trading standards team.

Eastcote Stores, trading as Budgens, and the company's director, Thambidurai Piruthuviraj, pleaded guilty at Uxbridge Magistrates Court.

Fireworks cannot be sold between November 10 and December 26 unless the shop has a licence, which costs £500.

However, a trading standards officer bought a firework from Budgens in Field End Road, which did not have a licence, on December17 last year. The officer also saw leaflets, posters and a temporary chalk board on the pavement advertising fireworks for sale.

Cllr Jonathan Bianco, cabinet member for finance, property and business services, said: "Misusing fireworks can have serious consequences, which is why the government introduced laws to regulate where and when they are sold."

The company and its director were each fined £180 and ordered to pay costs of £553, as well as a £20 victim surcharge.

Laws controlling the sale of fireworks came into force in 2004 in order to reduce nuisance caused when they are not used properly.

Six traders in Hillingdon have paid £500 to licence their premises for the sale of fireworks all year round.

Otherwise, shops can only sell fireworks on the following dates: October 15 to November 10, December 26-31, on the day of Diwali and the three days preceding it, and on the first day of the Chinese New Year and the three days preceding it.

People must not set off fireworks between 11pm and 7am. The exceptions are on Bonfire Night, when the cut-off point is midnight, and New Year’s Eve, Diwali and Chinese New Year, when they are allowed to be used until 1am.