// Marks & Spencer has tweeted that it will not longer sell disposable barbecues in all of its UK stores
// The move comes as pressure mounts from charities and environmental organisations for supermarkets to ban disposable BBQs due to their potentially hazardous impact to the environment
Marks & Spencer is to stop selling disposable barbecues in all of its UK stores, following in the footsteps of Aldi and Waitrose.
Amid a summer of record-breaking temperatures and exceptionally dry conditions, the department store retailer said it wanted to “help protect open spaces and reduce the risk of fires”.
The move comes as pressure mounts from leading charities and environmental organisations for supermarkets to ban disposable barbecues due to their potentially hazardous impact to the environment.
M&S tweeted: “We’d already stopped selling disposable barbecues near national parks and in London but given the unusually hot and dry conditions, we’ve taken the precautionary step of removing them from sale across the UK.”
London Fire Brigade (LFB), which has been vocal on the ban of disposable barbecues, said it was “good news”.
Sky News reported that new figures revealed that in the week commencing 18 July, LFB received 8,302 calls and attended 3,231 incidents, including more than 1,000 fires.
London’s Fire Commissioner Andy Roe said: “Despite our grass fire warnings, we’ve still seen some people behaving carelessly and recklessly.
“We need urgent action now to see a national ban on the sale of disposable barbecues.
“They can be bought for as little as £5 and can cause untold damage, especially when the grass is as dry as it has been over the last few weeks.”
He added recent incidents were “another example of how we are increasingly being challenged by new extremes of weather as our climate changes”.
LFB is backing a petition on the parliament website calling for a “complete ban on the sale and use” of disposable barbecues in the UK.
It comes after it was revealed parts of England have had their driest July since records began, according to provisional figures from the Met Office.
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