Thousands of people gathered in the centre of Birmingham on New Year’s Eve despite a police warning that the announcement of a fireworks display was false.
Police and the city council had urged revellers not to travel after false reports there would be a spectacular show in Centenary Square.
Images from the scene indicated that thousands of people still turned up, joining a large crowd ringing in the new year. While there were cheers at the stroke of midnight, the promise of pyrotechnics turned out to be a damp squib.
Supt Emlyn Richards of West Midlands police said last night: “There are rumours online that a fireworks display will take place in Centenary Square but there isn’t a planned event this year … We don’t want people travelling unnecessarily into the city centre tonight to be left disappointed after discovering the event isn’t taking place.”
The incident comes after a Halloween hoax in Dublin city centre last year, when thousands of people gathered expecting a parade. A Pakistan-based company later issued an apology on its events website after a “human error”.
In Birmingham, social media accounts disseminating the false claim of fireworks in Centenary Square included Birmingham Updates. The site, run by a marketing agency called Nonsensical, describes itself as having been set up during the 2011 riots “to dispel myth and rumour in the city”.
“As a social media page we frequently source information from a number of sources including local journalists and third party sites, in light of this we are now reviewing our sources and editorial guidelines,” said a spokesperson.
Other sites that had carried the false claim included Independent School Parent, owned by Telegraph Media Group, and Prima magazine.
Birmingham council, which in September 2023 became the largest local authority in Europe to declare itself effectively bankrupt, was chastised by social media users after warning the public about the fireworks reports.
Meanwhile in London, New Year revellers enjoyed fireworks, with the mayor’s office saying about 100,000 ticketholders had attended the display. It included more than 12,000 fireworks and 420 lights and ended with a message from Paddington Bear that “anyone can fit in” in London, before a version of Auld Lang Syne by Boney M.
In Edinburgh, however, Hogmanay celebrations, including street parties and fireworks, were cancelled because of safety concerns. Firework displays in Blackpool, Newcastle, Ripon, in North Yorkshire, and the Isle of Wight were also axed.
