A CHARITY cheque for hundreds of pounds was torn up by the organiser of a bonfire night party last week.

Richard Searight (pictured right), of East Quither Farm near Chillaton, is backing a campaign aiming to change the rules regarding staging of public events.

Mr Searight said: 'But for the regulations, which would have required us to have prohibitively expensive insurance, plus a temporary events licence etc, the event would have raised £529 for the local church.

'However, compliance with all the government regulations and licenses would have cost more than we would have made. The only way to make the event legal was to ensure that no charity benefited from it.

Mr Searight said he had been running bonfire parties safely for 30 years.

'Nobody has been injured yet. The only contribution the current regulations make is to ensure that charities don't get any of the money.

'Charities are estimated to lose tens of million pounds a year as a direct results of events 'not' being held for them — due to government regulations.'

Mr Searight said his bonfire party and ceremonial tearing up of a cheque was part of an ongoing campaign to run useless events around the country.

He said: 'The first was launched this summer by our MP, Geoffrey Cox, in a vintage Tiger Mother plane when he tore up a £500 cheque – necessary or the organisers would have faced a £20,000 fine or six months in prison. The only way the event could proceed legally was to ensure that no charity benefited – by tearing up the cheque.'

For more information on the campaign, visit http://www.communityevents.2day.ws">www.communityevents.2day.ws for full details and to sign a petition on the 10 Downing Street website.