A pub landlord had asked advice from West Yorkshire Fire Service before staging a bonfire and firework display in which two people were injured, a court heard.

Bingley Magistrates were told Anthony Lumb, who then ran the Salthorn pub in Oakenshaw, Bradford, had spoken to the fire brigade which was happy with the siting of his bonfire.

Two spectators - Andrew Parkin and Lisa Wilson - were burned and needed treatment at Dewsbury Hospital after being hit by a rogue firework at the display at the Cleckheaton Road pub on Bonfire Night in 1999.

Lumb, 31, of Wakefield Road, Drighlington, has pleaded not guilty to two charges of breaching health and safety laws.

Bradford Council, which brought the prosecution, said the display had posed a safety risk to the crowd, road users and pedestrians on the nearby footpath, saying there were no barriers, marshals or first aid kit.

But, as reported in later editions of yesterday's Telegraph & Argus, Lumb said he could have done nothing more to prevent the firework from spiralling into the crowd.

"It wasn't an organised display. It was a pub bonfire for people who come to the pub," he told Bradford Council environmental health officer Martin Grimshaw in an interview after the accident. "There were lots of people there drinking cans from off licences and letting off fireworks that weren't regulars."

Nick Dry, defending, said Lumb was a man with ten years experience of bonfires who followed instructions received with the fireworks and had the blessing of the fire brigade.

Magistrates adjourned the case until April 26.