CHILDREN have been playing with fire for years. The more foolhardy youngsters cannot resist letting off bangers or other small fireworks in the run-up to November 5, as every hospital casualty nurse knows.

What we are witnessing this year is something frighteningly different. The mangled metal frames of what were once York phone boxes are testament to a new, and potentially lethal, craze.

Astonishingly, vandals are putting lighted fireworks into wheelie bins inside telephone boxes. The resulting explosion rips both bin and box apart. People can hear the bang for miles around: for those living on the same street, the noise must be terrifying.

This is far from a prank. It is a menace. Already we have a report of one man suffering leg injuries as a result of the flying glass and other debris.

Only good fortune and the fact that the blasts happened late at night have ensured that no one has been badly injured. So far. Whoever is doing this is putting lives at very real risk - not least their own.

The seriousness of the crime takes it beyond vandalism. The perpetrators are deliberately creating and detonating a home-made bomb. York police have many pressing claims on their time, but given the potential risks we would urge them to divert resources now to catching the idiots involved.

They include not only those who are setting off these very powerful fireworks, but the reckless individuals who supply them. Because large fireworks are beyond the pocket of a typical vandal, we must assume the existence of a flourishing black market in cut-price pyrotechnics.

Urgent action is needed to stop this madness. Without it, we could soon be reporting the first death at the hands of the wheelie bin bombers.

Updated: 10:12 Monday, October 13, 2003