Shropshire farmer calls for Chinese lanterns ban
Thursday 4th August 2011, 11:29AM BST.
An angry Shropshire farmer today claimed his buildings and crops could have gone up in flames after 20 sky lanterns landed in his field.
Will Forrester, of Higher Heath near Whitchurch, discovered lanterns strewn across one of his fields at Colehurst on Tuesday morning.
Mr Forrester said it was fortunate the lanterns did not set alight his 64-acres of winter barley, which could have cost the family nearly £20,000.
National Farmers’ Union officials are calling for a ban on sky lanterns, also known as Chinese lanterns, as they say they can kill livestock, damage the environment and destroy buildings and crops.
Following complaints from farmers, including many who have lost livestock or seen property damaged, the NFU is lobbying Government about lanterns and speaking with retailers, manufacturers and the public about the potential dangers.
Mr Forrester said: “If this crop had gone up and the wind had fuelled and taken the fire it would have been a total loss.
“There are people’s homes nearby as well as farm buildings which could have been burned to the ground. We were fortunate but it could have been a disaster.”
He added: “The fields here have been bone dry and had the crops caught fire it would have been unstoppable.
“Once they’re released they just float away on the breeze, no-one takes responsibility. The solution would be to ban them.”
UK News
Most Commented
- Clampdown on Shrewsbury chuggers
- Bishop's gay marriage views do nothing to support bible teachings
- Planners ordered to stay on Newport visit bus
- Letter: Angered by close encounter of the furred kind
- Letter: Alcohol price plans annoy me
- Shrewsbury’s broadband speed one of slowest in UK
- Letter: No sense in overseas job adverts
Shropshire Star on Twitter
Keep updated with the latest breaking news and content on our Twitter feed.
Lifestyle
Interactive Dining Out map
Hundreds of reviews by the Shropshire Star and Express & Star's teams to help you decide where to eat.
Entertainment
All the film reviews
Before you plan a trip to the pictures, get our critics' verdicts on all the latest movie releases.
OUR NEW APP
Get the new Shropshire Star app
Download the Shropshire Star’s new app to your iPad or iPhone to get one week of access to our digital newspapers absolutely FREE.
shropshirestar.com
Popular sections
Useful links
Do you have this farmers contact details? I would like my lanterns back.
Report abuse
I can not believe the cheek of that chinese gentleman asking for his lanterns to be returned. Has he no social conscience. He should read up on english history. The Great Fire Of London was started by irresponsible refugees. What a disgrace
Report abuse
How dare you? i wasnt even born then. and anyway, the great fire of london was started by a chip pan fire. Read up on YOUR history. i was simply asking for my property back. The lanterns arnt guided by sat navs so how can i help where they land?
Report abuse
Are you serious. Potatoes only came in to the UK in the early 1600′s. The Great Fire of London was in 1666. Do you really think Sir Walter Raleigh issued Londoners with Tefal Deep Fat Friers when he was handing out the spuds. Anyway how could you plug in a chip pan in 1666.
Report abuse
what if your lanterns had of gone into my stable where my horse could of been/or my barn that is full of winter hay that is right next door to my house and set it on fire and killed us all!. would you like your property back then.it happen in the usa!they should be band
Report abuse
Pam – I suspect you would have been fine. After all, what does the empirical evidence show us? That TWENTY of these duds landed in a field and not ONE of them set it alight. I think I want my money back.
But if it had indeed set you barn alight and “killed you all!” then that would…..be something of a shame.
Report abuse
Lot of what ifs in your comment pam, and I am still skeptical on the loss of livestock and damage to crops being reported through the NFU more actual figures and documented cases with local authorities please not hear say.
Report abuse
“Anyway how could you plug in a chip pan in 1666.”
Dr P, my first chip pan didn’t need electricity we used to heat it over a log fire and use dinasour fat….makes lovely chips.
Report abuse
I’m amazed at the lack of knowledge of our history. Do you know nothing of Magna Carter? Did she die in vain?!
Report abuse
He could sue for trespass with damages awarded for damaged crops/property.
Report abuse
How does trespass come in to it ? Are we suggesting that anything that infringes airspace above a field is trespass ? I’d better cancel my flight to spain next week. Heaven knows how many farmers will sue me for trespass.
Report abuse
Yes, very funny. You may have noticed that these lanterns landed in the field. Your plane won’t.
Report abuse
Sue who Henry? How is he meant to track the owner? Not everyone writes their name on all their property. Like you do with your shoes and coats.
Report abuse
It is trespass if you are riding in one and it lands… although you would have to be pretty skinny to be able to be lifted by a chinese lantern…
Either that or have dsicovered an anti gravity drive in which case I would expect you to not give two hoots about some miserable farmer whinging.
Report abuse
Oh dear. Try reading some law rather than just making it up.
Trespass to land involves the “wrongful interference with one’s possessory rights in [real] property.”
Report abuse
So you’re saying it is ok to land on anyone’s property Henry?
You seem to have reacted quite badly to an obviously made up hypothetical situation…
Report abuse
Look at all the rubbish he could collect in them plastic bin bags ;)
Report abuse
Chineese Lanterns are litter, one might as well throw your litter out the car window, same thing.
You light the lantern, watch it fly away and you are sending a small fire into the sky, with no care on which property it falls on.
BAN THEM, its littering
Report abuse
how about banning tractor’s off the roads as they are littering up our roads with mud off the fields
Report abuse
Banning tractor’s what?
Report abuse
I second that…
Muck spreading miserable yokels…
Report abuse
So you would happily starve than put up with a little mud. You soft, wimpy towny!
Report abuse
Starve? behave steve most food is imported and any one eating UK spuds be it in a crisp or not must be mad , have you seen what these guy spray the spuds with? have you seen the wildlife that stuff kills? i,m sure you have.
Report abuse
Ermm, these things are available from pound shops and I think people think they are being cool and at one with nature as they watch them diapear over their housing estates, when infact they are causing chaos,
They should engage brain before parting with their pound coins
Report abuse
Chaos?
Really?
Oh dear, you must live in a VERY ordered reality Stoaty!
Report abuse
I live in the country side although i fail to see the relevance of an housing estate to anything , and i actually attended a wedding last year held by a rather big and well known farmer and oh dear we let lanterns off all be it the environmentally friendly ones 157 to be exact.
Report abuse
Andrew, I stand by my case that Andy is a wimpy towny, moaning about a bit of muck!
As for spuds from where ever, please don’t be so naive as to think it is just these islands that spray crops of any sort. There’s lots of people to feed out there and our own farmers are a major contributor. A little respect for others is what is called for. How would you like to have somebodies playthings dropped on your property. I think not!
Report abuse
“wimpy towny”
Lmao!
Report abuse
Buy the Eco friendly ones and there should be no problem. They are no different to fire works, should we ban them too?
Report abuse
YES !ED! FIREWORKS SHOULD BE BAND.if u got money to burn you should give it to me i can make more use of it.
Report abuse
Spelling lessons?
Report abuse
You can buy eco friendly Chinese lanterns, but they won’t stop cattle from eating them and dying a slow, painful death from the frames. People’s garden sheds have burnt down because of them. Ban Chinese lanterns.
Report abuse
I just love the hysteria here…
Let’s just cut to the chase and ban everything that is fun…
Oh except fox hunting.
Bet all the miserable old wind bags on here are in favour of that!
Report abuse
Don’t you just love reading all these freaked out comments.
Report abuse
look ma’ aliens.
they must be chinese lanterns,japanese lanterns would be glowing from extreme amounts of radiation.
Report abuse
They showed CCTV footage on TV recently of a car catching fire thanks to one of these. Imagine the damage it could do to a combine harvester!
Report abuse
How can the farmer be sure these things are Chinese Lanterns rather than he’s got some frisky elephants nearby ?
Report abuse
This thread is so funny. It’s amazing how wild people get when some poor farmer gets upset. These farmers think they own the countryside, you only here from them when you’ve strayed off the public footpath or their E.U. payment for setaside is late, now chinese lanterns. I know, In great British tradition you need to ban everything. This comments page provokes variable thought and debate, thats not good, it should be banned. Oh and by the way, these lanterns are not banned in all states of the US. They were being released at a party we attended only last week in North Carolina, however these were environmentally friendly and extinguished before contact with the ground.
But thats not good enough because they should be banned. Oh I could not return to the nanny state.
Report abuse
Erm, who do you think owns the countryside? The county council?! Farmers either own their farms or are tenants. Either way, it’s their land.
Report abuse
Its called being sarcastic, Henry. Are you a farmer by any chance?
Report abuse
My son set off a chinese lantern out of his girlfriend’s bedroom window, it got stuck in a tree in the garden and it was aglow with flames everywhere. He and his girlfriend managed to rush down and put out the fire – all without waking up her parents!
Report abuse
I like to make my own lantern by filling up a yoghout carton with burning chip fat and attaching it to an inverted Tesco ‘Bag for Life’. It makes a pretty picture but you need to judge how much fat you put in the pot. I let one go the other day from Pimhill and nearly napalmed a small holding near Wem.
I love the smell of chip fat in the morning.
Report abuse
Haha nice!!
Report abuse
The best reply yet “brilliant”
Report abuse
Best comment yet by far! think ive just wet myself!
Report abuse
No one has pointed out yet that in order for the lanterns to land in the field, they must have gone out already.
I’d imagine that any hot part of the metal work probably had the time to cool on the way down.
Report abuse
For pity’s sake Lenton, that is so irresponsible, on so many fronts. Our poor farmers have put up with so much in recent years without hot chip fat raining down on their land and livestock.
You really shouldn’t put ideas in people’s heads like that. I can just imagine the fast food chains giving them away free with nuggets and burgers. Our night skies will soon be ablaze with their sinister logos.
A few chips falling from the sky might be ok though.
Report abuse
Never read such an awful debate!
So many stupid and irrelevant comments.
Absolute nonsense, hope people from other counties or even other countries dont read this one.
These Shropshire Star comments pahes have lost it now.
Embarassing.
Report abuse
Come on Glyn, there’s so many up tight people that comment on these news stories, you have to lighten the tone as if these people had their way, we would end up with a facist society. Have a laugh, or just get out more.
Report abuse
I AM from another country, Glyn, and LOVE reading this drivel. Made my day! Thank you all, my limey brothers and sisters for the low entertainment on such a critical topic. (freeskylanterns.com).
Report abuse
Must say the best one is put a quids worth of petrol in a petrol can , please be aware you can only do the following if you have a large field you own or rent , walk a good distance away get out your cross bow and fire a lightened arrow at it shout yippee ky ay and watch it go oh and chew on a piece of straw as well .
Report abuse
have you watched a sheep choke and die following it trying to eat one of these new imports. it was not very pleasant. hopefully in time we shall have a little more thought for our farm animals
Report abuse
How about the amount of silage bail wrappers strewn around the countryside ??I can take you to a few farm where they are left rotting or trying to in a pile in the corner of farm yard, or surrounding fields by so called dirty farmers which we seem to have a lot of.
Report abuse
perhaps your sheep fancied a chinese before it got butchered, cooked and choked someone eating it in a doner kebab, revenge of the chinese lantern lamb doner kebab.
Report abuse
You stood and watched a Sheep choke to death after watching it eat a Chinese Lantern……weirdo..
Report abuse
kill joy spoiling my party i wanna chuck stuff all over the countrysdie and burn baby burn its my party and ill cry if i want to – whatever these greeny litter police say i want to chuck stuff everywhere its my human right to freedome of choice we need less rules on this and more freedom of choice
Report abuse
Atcham jack. This sheep does it live a long life normally? Or is it killed for food?
Report abuse
Erm, whilst you were watching the thing choke (and die) did it not occur to you to step in and help? It might not have got past the choking stage if you had… Just a thought.
Report abuse
bans dont work, the best thing is to price them out of the market, levy a 5 pound tax per item and they would soon stop selling
Report abuse
Mr Forrester said: “If this crop had gone up and the wind had fuelled and taken the fire it would have been a total loss.”
But none of this happened. And the Star has no evidence of it happening anywhere in the county.
Report abuse
I’m sure if the farmer petitions the EU then they’ll give them some subsidy for every lantern that lands in their fields. After all, farmers get subsidisied for everything else!
Report abuse
dr d p
The great fire of london was started by a bakers oven, maybe you should get your facts right.I have a lot of respect for farmers and I wish we could have more food grown in the uk instead of having it from other countrys.
Report abuse
Well done Christine, but you forgot to point out to David Jons that it wasn’t started by a chip-pan fire either.
Are you for real??
Report abuse
Thank you Damo as I did mean to say that about about the chip-pan but thought it would have been wasted on such people like David Jons.Did you mean if I am for real or David Jons oh yes I am lol
Report abuse
Ban them and we won’t get pointless calls about people thinking they have seen UFOs. But them if you ban these you have to ban fireworks…
I know lets have a riot over it…
Report abuse
The logical approach would be to get your MP to submit a ban on UFO’s. We can all get behind that, right? Nobody wants them, and they can’t vote; the lantern peddlars would likely not protest the proposed law. So, once UFO’s are banned, we can all scream bloody murder every time we spot a UFO/SkyLantern. The air force could then legally bring down the flying lanterns brought down and the perp’s be brought to justice. Kills two flying nuisances with one stone! Wot!?
Report abuse