Buy Sandwell fireworks tickets early, families warned before Bonfire Night
Visitors to fireworks shows in Sandwell will be urged to buy tickets in advance in a bid to avoid the calamities of last year.
Families will be offered discounts as council bosses seek to stop as many people as possible buying tickets on the gate.
It comes after Sandwell Council was criticised over its handling of Bonfire Night events last year.
The authority was criticised by people who endured queues outside Dartmouth Park in West Bromwich.
Councillor Richard Marshall, leisure boss at the council, said: "We are definitely having two events – one in Smethwick and one in West Bromwich.
"There will be extra security but one of the big things we are doing is getting people to buy in advance.
"One of the big issues was queueing to get in to get in so we will have a system in place to buy in advance."
Councillor Marshall said he believed it was possible for the advance ticket offer to be advertised widely enough to have the desired impact.
He added: "It worked for our Christmas event last year when 95 per cent of people bought in advance."
At a display at Wednesbury’s Brunswick Park in 2014 a stray rocket flew into the crowd, hurting three people.
Then hundreds of people complained after being left in lengthy queues to get into Dartmouth Park last year.
This sparked a report by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) which highlighted a lack of wardens, poor communication and ‘aggressive’ security staff as issues.
The independent report said safety at big fireworks displays in the borough needed to be ‘thoroughly reviewed’.
Event planning was described as being ‘hampered by untracked and late decisions’ from the council.
Councillor Marshall previously said the authority had 'learned lessons' from the failings.
