Pensioner Maurice Simmons is baffled after being told he cannot send Christmas crackers through the post.

His son Andrew, who lives in Chicago, USA, had asked him to send some to his friends for Christmas.

Maurice bought a couple of boxes but was staggered when he went to the post office in Hangleton to send them.

The 72-year-old was told he could not send them because they were classed as explosives.

He will now have to dismantle all 16 crackers to make sure there is nothing in the parcel that goes bang.

Maurice, of Holmes Avenue, Hove, said he would post the cracker wrapper and the novelty hat inside but not the explosive part.

He said: "The world has gone crackers. It is all very strange. I have written on the parcel that inside are 'crackers without the cracker'.

"Apparently you cannot get hold of crackers in Chicago and so they are in demand.

"I told my son what had happened but he is not too concerned that his friends will not have the bang with the cracker."

His son, an insurance agent in the States, will be celebrating the Jewish Hanukkah, December 21 to 29 this year, without crackers.