Burnham bans disposable barbecues in the UK as wildfires spread
Key Points
- The government has banned the sale of disposable barbecues in shops and online across Great Britain while drought and heatwave conditions continue.
- The Office for Product Safety and Standards published statutory guidelines on Friday (14 August), issued under the General Product Safety Regulations 2005.
- Retailers and distributors that ignore the guidelines breach their legal duties and face enforcement action, including prosecution.
- The ban covers supply rather than use, and no end date has been set.
The government has banned the sale of disposable barbecues in stores and online across Great Britain while drought and heatwave conditions continue.
The Office for Product Safety and Standards published the statutory guidelines on Friday (14 August), made by the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade under regulation 6(3)(c) of the General Product Safety Regulations 2005.
They apply to producers, distributors and retailers placing disposable barbecues on the Great Britain market, including online marketplaces acting as distributors.
Businesses supplying the Northern Ireland market are strongly recommended to follow them.
The guidelines cover any product designed for domestic single-use outdoors and not intended for refilling or reuse, comprising a fuel tray, grill grid and enough charcoal for a single cooking session.
The government’s position is that reasonably foreseeable use during an extreme heat event or drought poses an unacceptable risk to public safety and health, meaning the products fail the general safety requirement in the regulations.
“They should not be made available for supply either in store or online at the current time,” the guidelines state.
Businesses that fail to take the guidelines into account breach their responsibilities under the regulations.
OPSS and local authority Trading Standards enforce those requirements and can order recalls, suspend supply, require customer warnings or withdraw products from sale.
Prosecution can follow where a breach is serious enough, and a conviction carries a prison sentence, a financial penalty or both.
The guidelines cover supply, not use, and create no offence for anyone who already owns a disposable barbecue. Local restrictions on barbecues in parks, on moorland and in other open spaces continue to apply separately through councils and fire services.
The British Retail Consortium had previously issued voluntary guidelines encouraging retailers to consider pulling the products when an extreme heat event looked imminent, and to educate customers on safe use and disposal.
The statutory guidelines remove that discretion for as long as they remain in force.
Fire and rescue services have recorded 1,017 wildfires in England and Wales this year, according to National Fire Chiefs Council figures, matching the total for the whole of 2025.
Wildfires in the West Midlands this week damaged or destroyed nearly 40 homes, sent six firefighters to hospital with smoke inhalation and heat exhaustion, and left paramedics treating more than 50 people, 19 of whom went to hospital. Staffordshire County Council attributed a July blaze on heathland at Cannock Chase to a disposable barbecue.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham visited Stourbridge on Friday to meet fire crews and residents.
He chaired the government’s emergency response committee, COBR, earlier in the week on extreme heat, wildfires and drought, and indicated then that he favoured a ban.
The government has committed almost £100 million to strengthening the national response to wildfires and extreme weather, and has appointed a fire minister. It announced a separate £65 million support package for drought-hit farmers in England on Saturday (15 August).
The guidelines carry no end date. They will be kept under review and withdrawn in consultation with relevant departments and agencies once weather conditions ease sufficiently to reduce the risk.
