FUMING police chief today revealed that shopkeepers were selling fireworks to children as young as 12-years-old.

And Sergeant Geoff Rowbottom urged traders to be more responsible during the countdown to Bonfire Night.

Undercover police have witnessed shopkeepers blatantly flouting the law by illegally selling fireworks over the counter to under-16s.

Sergeant Rowbottom, the boss of Blackburn plain clothes unit, said his team of officers had been shocked and angered by the number of illegal firework sales they had observed.

The alarming evidence was gathered in just three days of observation around the Blackburn area by four undercover officers.

The law says that traders cannot sell fireworks to children under 16. They are also legally obliged to store them safely in secure containers, boxes, cupboards, drawers or glass cabinets where they are out of reach from youngsters. Sgt Rowbottom said: "What we have seen has been horrendous and there is a complete disregard of the law occurring. "We have seen children as young as 12 and 13 buying fireworks from shops. We also saw fireworks within easy reach of children which had not been stored properly.

"Shopkeepers should be more responsible. Every year we hear about the horrific injuries caused to different people."

Lancashire trading standards boss Jim Potts said he would liaise with police to crack down on the rogue shopkeepers.

He said: "If we find evidence of this occurring there will be prosecutions.

"There are about 1,500 firework retailers in Lancashire and when we grant them licences we do remind them of the law in selling unsafe fireworks.

"But when we have done random checks we have found that the vast majority do stick to the rules.

"This sounds like an isolated problem, but we will not hesitate to take action."

The countdown to Bonfire Night is also proving a menace for firefighters who have been faced with a barrage of call-outs.

Blackburn fire station officer Andrew Barnes said they had attended more than 50 incidents in the past seven days.

He said: "There is a fascination with children lighting bonfires at this time of year and leaving them to burn out of control."

The latest incident happened yesterday when a firework was put through a postbox in Johnston Street, Blackburn. All the post inside was destroyed.

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