'It was like a nightmare': Stray rockets fire into crowds of children at a packed fireworks display as desperate spectators trample over others to escape

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Fireworks have been aimed at Bonfire Night crowds causing significant injuries, including to small children, in places like Hertfordshire, Wiltshire, Wickford and Scotland.

The latest incident occurred on Saturday night when a 12-year-old boy in Hoddesdon was riding his bike when a firework shot out of a passing car.

He was taken to the hospital where he was treated for flesh wounds after burns scorched his face and hands. His injuries are not life threatening but he is considered to have been very lucky.

Five days before on 30 October in Broxbourne a firework was thrown into the window of a parked car where the two 18-year-old girls inside suffered burns.

A 20-year-old man reported that he was hit in the head by a firework that was being linked to the group of perpetrators who were seen throwing fireworks in the Broxbourne Lido car park on Nazeing New Road.

Police arrested two men, aged 18 and 19, on suspicion who were later released on bail.    

A Saturday firework display in Amesbury, Wiltshire, saw rockets shooting towards families and children 'trampled' as they tried to escape the projectiles. 

Youngsters suffered burns on their faces, with one parent claiming her daughter is 'scarred for life' after the event at The Antrobus Arms Hotel. 

Video was posted to the hotel's Facebook but was repeatedly deleted by page administrators after a social media backlash.

Rachael Tomlinson was hit in the face by a firework while standing at the front of the crowd with her daughter before emergency services rushed to the scene. 

Footage shot from the crowd shows the display get underway before a 'malfunction' hurls rockets into spectators 

'I was a bit shaken as it was really close to my eye,' she said. 'The ambulance crews put ice on it.

'I saw a lady in the toilet whose hat was black where it had been burnt and another lady had to put her hat out because it caught fire.

'I saw a little boy with five burns on his face and he was really shaken up.'  

Wiltshire Police said 'some of the fireworks on igniting had tipped over and fired in the direction of the crowd which included a number of young children'. 

Spectator Natalie Morris said the lack of safety exits left families with nowhere to go while the fireworks raced toward them. 

Rockets burst into the sky in Wiltshire, before stray projectiles speed toward the families gathered to watch the display 

'After things went bad there was no shelter and no safety exits so we were sitting ducks, fireworks coming over the top of us and exploding at our feet, sheltering kids with ourselves,' she said.

'We are all traumatised but safe, my daughter plucked up courage to try and enjoy fireworks and has now been scarred for life.'

Dawn Kennedy said escape was made all the more difficult by locked doors.

'My son was in a crowd of adults who were trying to leave the garden and he was knocked down and almost trampled on,' she said.

'I managed to pull him to his feet and hold on to him. We weren't hit by the fireworks, and got out as soon as we could. 

As fireworks head for the crowd, spectators tried to escape and some children were trampled 

'We weren't notified of the fire exits and the patio doors into the pub were locked.

'There were too many people allowed into the venue and it was overcrowded. 

'People had to use their own initiative and attempt to get into the lobby to make their way out of the hotel.'

On Facebook today people said the display left them with 'nightmares' and barely able to sleep.

Cerys Dixon-Black said: 'It was horrific, my son's got a horrendous bruise from getting hit in the leg by a firework and my little girl was petrified.'

Aaron-Paul Buckerfield added: 'I was checking over clothes and found the coat my 13-year-old sister was wearing was burned after she was struck in the back by a live firework while shielding my tramatised 10-year-old brother.

The rockets raced toward families, who were treated at the scene for injuries including burns to the face 

'Being the type of coat it is, it could have been much much worse. Furious is an understatement.' 

The South Western Ambulance Service confirmed that spectators were injured. 

'Fourteen people were treated. They were treated at the scene. They were all walking wounded.'

The Health and Safety Executive and the Licensing department of Wiltshire Council is investigating the incident.

A Wiltshire Council spokesperson said: 'We will be working with our partner agencies and the hotel as we investigate the matter further.'

The venue said one display box with multiple fireworks malfunction, adding: 'Regrettably, despite the safety cordon exceeding the manufacturer's guidelines, some projectiles ejected towards the crowd line.

'We are mortified about what has occurred today and would like to apologise to all those affected, please rest assured that a full investigation will take place.'

Meanwhile a Derby woman yesterday said a cat died after fireworks were tied to its body and set off, leaving her 'absolutely heartbroken'. 

Sam Copeland-Whelan, 32, said her brother had found the cat still alive but in a very bad way in Thorndike Avenue, Alvaston at around noon on Saturday. It had clearly been tortured.

Sam Copeland-Whelan, 32, pictured, said her brother found her cat badly tortured on Saturday afternoon as a result of having fireworks attached to its body and set off

Ms Copeland-Whelan, who has six cats, said her brother phoned her when he found the cat to warn her to keep her 'beloved' pets safe. 

He also called an emergency vet but the cat had died when they arrived shortly afterwards. 

Ms Copeland-Whelan said: 'My brother believes the cat was pinned down and then had the rockets attached to its body. All of its fur was no longer on it and one of its legs had been ripped off. The fireworks had gone off. It looked appalling and by the time the emergency vet came to the scene it had sadly died.'

'It's so sad and tragic,' she added. 'I'm now keeping all my cats inside until Bonfire Night blows over. I urge all other cat owners to do the same thing.'   

A spokesman for Derbyshire police said it was appealing for witnesses over the incident. 

On Saturday another episode in Scotland saw customer at a chip shop nearly have their face burnt off when a firework was thrown by a group of youths.

Disturbing footage, taken around 8pm outside Pepe's Fish and Pizza Bar in Lesmahagow, south Lanarkshire, shows the male customer exiting the shop where a firework is seen blazing past him moments later. 

He is shocked, appears to stumble slightly and then looks behind him to find the source of the firework. 

The shop's general manager called the incident 'absolutely disgusting' and says it was teenagers who'd gathered nearby. 

As well as handing the footage to police, he posted it on Facebook, encouraging anyone with information to follow his example.  

Police Scotland told Mirror Online that they were conducting inquiries to 'establish the full circumstances surrounding the incident.' 

These incidents follows a 'campaign of terror' in which fireworks were thrown at the Wickford home of 64-year-old Jill Walsh.

The pensioner said that on Halloween alone 10 fireworks were fired 'in very quick succession' at the house. 

She said suspects stand about 60 metres away and fire rockets from the darkness at her car.   

'It all started on October 25, when people standing on the corner were deliberately firing firework rockets at our drive, at our house and at our car,' she said.

'They were also chucking huge cubes of fireworks onto the drive which includes like 16 individual fireworks and that was spaced out over about half an hour.

'We went out the next morning to see our garage window had been smashed and a huge rocket laying in the garage, which had obviously been aimed at my car and missed.

CCTV cameras have captured the 'campaign of terror' that the pensioner has been facing 

'On the 27th, there was again rockets fired towards the house and there was an almighty bang at my kitchen window.'

Just 10 minutes after police came, stones were thrown at the property and smashed another window. 

Fireworks were thrown at the house of 64-year-old Jill Walsh, who says 10 were hurled at her property on Halloween alone

The incidents have raised traumatic memories for the pensioner, who says her house was also targeted in 2010. 

'They’ve shot at pretty much every window in my house, I’ve had dead animals dumped on my drive, I’ve been driven at, I’ve been shot at and my neighbour was shot at while on her horse,' she said.

Two windows were smashed at the house by people throwing fireworks from under the cover of darkness

'I’m more angry then scared. I’m angry that a group of people have got the temerity to launch sustained attacks on two pensioners and to think that they are above the law.

'They are very clever people that will do everything under the cover of darkness and to my mind, this is a hate crime.'

Just 10 minutes after police came to investigate the throwing of rockets, stones were hurled at the house

A spokesman for Essex Police confirmed: 'We are investigating after it was reported fireworks were fired at an address in Hovefields Avenue, Wickford.

'Incidents were reported to us around 8.15pm on October 25, 8.45pm on October 27 and 8.05pm on October 31.

'On each occasion officers attended. No-one was injured but property was damaged.

'If you have any information about any of these incidents please contact Basildon police station on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.'