THE number of retailers selling fireworks to under-age children has more than doubled over the past year.

A sweeping crackdown by trading standards officers revealed that 10 per cent of traders in Bolton willing to hand over the potentially dangerous items to youngsters.

Of those, two persistent shop owners - one in Little Lever and one in Hulton Park - will be taken to court.

Last year five shops illegally sold fireworks to children under the age of 18, none did so on a repeat visit.

This time around, however, 11 stores out of the 106 swooped on by under-age volunteers working for Bolton Council's Trading Standards Unit were willing to sell.

The Bolton Evening News carried out its own investigation into the flouting of the law using two girls aged 14 and 16 and a boy aged 15.

A BEN reporter entered the shop with a youngster while he or she attempted to buy a firework.

Two-thirds of the nine retailers visited sold fireworks to our volunteers.

One of the offenders looked physically sick when we confronted her after she had sold a firework to our 14-year-old volunteer.

Astonishingly, the shop's owner said: "I warned staff about this. The police came in and told us to be careful just this week. I don't know what to say. She should have asked the girl her age."

The BEN has handed over the evidence from its survey to trading standards officers.

The Fireworks (Safety) Regulations 1997 states: "Fireworks must not be supplied to persons under 18."

It also says caps, cracker snaps, novelty matches, party poppers, serpents and throwdowns must not be supplied to persons under 16.

Last year there were 12 recorded injuries caused by fireworks in Bolton.

Of those, 10 involved children, seven of which came as a result of hooligan behaviour.

Councillor Guy Harkin, cabinet member for the environment, said: "Helping prevent children from buying the fireworks in the first place is very important in reducing injuries and nuisance behaviour. Visiting shops on an informal basis enables us to blitz a large number of them."

Trading standards chiefs return to offending shops for a second spot-check.

If the store is again caught selling a firework to somebody under 18, then legal proceedings can be started with shop owners facing prosecution and fines of up to £5,000 per offence.

A spokesman for trading standards said: "This is something we take very seriously.

"By trying to cut off the supply to children from the source we are helping to cut down on the number of firework-related incidents."