Crawley MP Laura Moffatt is calling for the sale of fireworks over the counter to be banned.

She believes they should be available only for organised functions and to people who have been trained to use them.

She said: "I'm not trying to be a killjoy. I adore fireworks but I think as they become bigger and more sophisticated there is a greater risk of children being injured."

Mrs Moffatt, a former nurse at Crawley Hospital, said she had helped to treat children who had suffered horrific burns from fireworks.

She said: "I want to make sure children can't buy fireworks over the counter. For the last ten days children around my home in Broadfield have been exploding them every night.

"They are putting them in glass bottles and throwing them in the underpass between Creasey's Drive and Tollgate Hill. They were even playing with fireworks on the night of the storm."

Ms Moffatt said she had also heard reports of children putting fireworks in drains, which lifted the drain lid when they exploded.

She said: "I am worried someone is going to suffer serious injuries if fireworks are widely available.

"Children as young as ten are setting them off. Probably their parents don't know they are walking around with pocketfuls of fireworks."

Mrs Moffatt has signed an Early Day Motion in the House of Commons calling for over-the-counter sales to be banned.

She said: "Unless the sale of fireworks is stopped, some child is going to be seriously maimed."