Co-op stops selling disposable barbecues near national parks

Disposable barbecues will no longer be sold by the Co-op near UK national parks to support bans and stop fires.

The retailer said 130 shops situated in or within a one-mile (1.6km) radius would withdraw the sale of the product.

It follows a campaign led by former worker Hannah Mitchell, from Penrith, after a spate of litter and anti-social behaviour in the Lake District.

Meanwhile, police are investigating reports a group chopped down trees to use as fire wood at Wastwater, Cumbria.

It was said to have happened on Saturday morning at the beauty spot in Wasdale, with officers treating it as suspected criminal damage.

Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service has previously called on shops in the Peak District to stop selling disposable barbecues after a series of fires.

In April, people were warned not to light barbecues after two moorland fires, with witnesses reporting seeing people cooking near a footpath.

Ms Mitchell asked her former employer to consider stopping the sale of the instant product after seeing people travelling to the Lake District earlier this year.

She said while she welcomed tourists getting outdoors, there had been issues caused by a minority.

"What we did see was a spate of sort of anti-social behaviour in the form of littering and environmental damage, and a big culprit amongst that was disposable barbecues," she said.

"I felt like it was sort of a bit of a moral responsibility of theirs to mitigate further damage by restricting the sales of these things in rural areas such as the Lake District."

The writer and environmental campaigner said she did not want a total ban on barbecues but hoped the move would lessen the impact of fires.

She also highlighted what she called "single-use culture".

"I think first and foremost the word disposable in the title of that product is problematic in itself," she added.

"They can be very damaging if used irresponsibly and the damage that we have seen in our national parks, sadly, it is perpetrated by a small minority."

The Co-op said millions of instant barbecues were sold each year and while the "vast majority" are used safely, it was supporting local bans by national parks and landowners.

Follow BBC North East & Cumbria on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].