West Bromwich fireworks display: Safety fears raised in review after complaints

Lack of wardens, poor communication and ‘aggressive’ security staff are highlighted in the report by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) after hundreds of complaints about an event at Dartmouth Park in West Bromwich last year.

The report also criticises the council’s ‘inconsistent’ policy on whether to charge for the event where people were left queuing for hours last year.

Event planning was also labelled as being ‘hampered by untracked and late decisions’ from the authority.

Sixteen recommendations were made by RoSPA, focussing on planning arrangments at the popular family event.

Recommendations for this year’s event were also put in place, stating that the ‘events safety arrangement plan’ should be ‘thoroughly reviewed’.

The report stated: “There needs to be more oversight and direction for future events, with clear understanding of the decision making process.

“The lack of wardens led to poor communication to the crowd outside the gates.”

It continued: “Security guards were searching visitors between the entrance and the pay booths and not after the pay booths. This was in direct contravention to the verbal instructions given by the Operations Manager and is one of the factors that led to the general congestion.

“There were reports that some of the security guards became aggressive, not being used to the pressure of such a large crowd.”

However, the report did praise the events team for their ‘pivotal decision’ to open the gates when crowd control outside was becoming a problem.

It added: “This undoubtedly prevented any serious incidents developing, including injuries to staff and visitors.”

Sandwell Council ran two fireworks displays last year, at Dartmouth Park and Victoria Park in Smethwick, after deciding to scrap the event in Jubilee Park, Tipton.

The decision was taken to help manage events in the borough following an accident which marred a show in Brunswick Park in November 2014 when a stray rocket flew into the crowd, injuring three.

Sandwell Council’s leisure boss Councillor Richard Marshall said: “We have learned lessons already. At the time we knew things had gone drastically wrong on the night.”