Disposable barbecues banned from sale as Andy Burnham warns Britain is a ‘tinderbox’

The heatwave has put a stop to disposable BBQs

Guidance published online on Friday tells retailers the products “must not be made available for sale either in store or online at the current time”.

Why disposable barbecues have been pulled from shelves

The guidance said the grills had caused “a number of serious wildfires across the country over the summer months”. England and Wales have already matched the whole of 2025 for wildfires, and the move follows a punishing week: homes were destroyed in the West Midlands on Thursday, and a wildfire declared a major incident in Suffolk earlier this summer. The hosepipe bans already in force across much of the UK have spread as the drought has deepened.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham told BBC Radio 5 Live that every retailer would receive guidance on the change.

We’ve got 37 fires across England and Wales right now, four of them are major incidents. Britain is a tinderbox right now. Setting a fire in any outdoor setting of any kind is a risk to other people’s homes, it’s a risk to other people’s lives, don’t do it.

Andy Burnham, Prime Minister

Burnham said it was “probable” that some of the current fires had been started this way, though he stopped short of blaming them all. As The Independent reported, he had already urged shops to pull the grills voluntarily after chairing a Cobra meeting this week, alongside a pledge of firefighting planes and emergency money for fire services.

The guidance will be reviewed and withdrawn once conditions ease. Until then, Burnham warned, the country is “going into a difficult weekend”.