Farron calls on other supermarkets to follow Tesco's lead on sky lanterns

South Lakes MP Tim Farron has praised supermarket giant Tesco for announcing that it is to stop the sale of sky lanterns on-line and in its stores. Tim has now called on other supermarkets to follow their lead.

The move came in the run-up to today's Chinese New Year, an event during which many sky lanterns are released.

Sky lanterns can not only cause fires, they also pose hazards to livestock and wildlife. Many cases of cattle ingesting the wire from sky lanterns in the field or in forage have been reported, and wildlife can get caught up and injured in the wire.

Tim is asking that other supermarkets follow Tesco's lead, or at least explore the possibility of only stocking 'higher' quality and safer sky lanterns.

While high quality Lanterns that come with detailed health and safety instructions are deemed relatively safe, the major surge in popularity over the past few years have led to much poorer quality lanterns becoming available in the shops and it is these lanterns which are blamed for the damage.

Commenting today Tim said: "While these lanterns are great to look at and can be enjoyed on many different occasions, it is important that we do not allow poor quality lanterns to destroy our countryside and livestock.

"I hope that other supermarkets follow Tesco's lead or at least agree to look at only stocking 'higher' quality sky lanterns, which are thought by experts to be much safer than cheaper versions."