ONLINE readers are not impressed about a plan to ban crowds from gathering on Worcester Bridge during a popular fireworks show.

We reported how people will no longer be allowed to stand on the bridge to watch the spectacular fireworks display held above the banks of the river Severn which ends the 16-day Worcester Festival on Bank Holiday Monday on August 28.

Police and festival organisers say the ban is not a result of recent terrorist attacks such as the Westminster Bridge atrocity in March when five people were killed.

Instead, with crowds numbering more than 10,000, West Mercia Police told event organisers to close the bridge to pedestrians over fears there may be an accident on the road.

Chief Inspector James Baker said: “This is about public safety and the effective management of a crowd, which over the years has built up on the bridge to a point that it is becoming dangerous.

"We do not want anyone spilling into a live carriageway and possibly causing an accident."

However, on the Worcester News facebook page, Joe Meredith said: "Another rule put in place to tell us what we can do and where we can go.

"The more we are told how to be safe the worse we get at been safe ourselves, the less we can teach our children and the more we must rely on the state and signs warning us of danger.

"Guess Common Sense is a thing of the past now and no longer needed."

Reader Pat Mills said: "I would have thought it was better for people to stand on the bridge than be on the riverbank in the dark.

"Most sensible idea is to close the bridge to traffic."

Kayleigh Lowe said: "If more people are watching how you going to fit everyone in if we can't stand on the bridge."

Some readers put forward suggestions for alternative places to watch the fireworks including Fort Royal Park and Lansdowne Crescent.