Total fireworks complaints near 90 thousand

The fireworks complaint hotline Vuurwerkoverlast closed on Sunday with a total of 89.874 thousand complaints, nearly 18 thousand more than last year.

According to initiator Arno Bonte, GroenLinks councilor in Rotterdam, 78 percent of the complaints were about loud bangs caused by firework bombs, 12 percent about fireworks scaring pets and 5 percent about dangerous situations caused by fireworks.

Bonte told news wire ANP that the shortened lighting times - from 6:00 p.m. on New Year's Eve to 2:00 a.m. on New Year's morning - was effective this year. The number of complaints were relatively low during the day on December 31st.  He attributes the significant increase in complaints partly to the fact that the hotline was open 6 days longer than last year.