A PREGNANT Teddington woman who lost the sight of one eye after being hit in the face by a four-foot rocket is the inspiration for a campaign to ban the giant fireworks.

The campaign is nicknamed Lavinia's Law' after Lavinia Dale, aged 26, of St Mark's Road. She was visiting her in-laws in Tolworth on Bonfire Night last year when her eye was totally shattered after a monster rocket hit her in the face and knocked her screaming to the ground.

She was rushed to Kingston Hospital and transferred to St George's Hospital, Tooting, for surgery. Because she was seven months pregnant, she could not have general anaesthetic and suffered two hours of surgery on her eye under local anaesthetic.

She is now completely blind in her right eye, her sight will never be restored and she faces a further operation next month.

She said: "My parents had invited my husband Kevin and I to a properly controlled fireworks display they were giving, but because I was pregnant and I've never liked fireworks that much anyway, I said I wanted a quiet evening and we went to my in-laws and had a lovely dinner.

"After the meal, my husband said he wanted to get some golf clubs out of the shed, so I went into the garden with him to get some fresh air. Suddenly a firework went off about six gardens down, which was absolutely huge and looked like a beautiful chandelier.

"We were looking up at it when something smashed into my eye. I fell onto the floor screaming. I was panicking and started to hyperventilate and the only thing that calmed me down was thinking about the baby and that I didn't want to harm it."

Lavinia, who is now mum to ten-week-old Ben, added: "The tail end of the rocket that hit me full in the eye was four foot long with a four inch diameter. Writing on the side said it should only be let off in an open area more than 25 metres across."

Lavinia presented a petition of 300 signatures urging the government to ban the monster rockets - called class three fireworks - to Kingston Council on Tuesday and the council backed her plea for legislation, calling it Lavinia's Law.

Said Lavinia: "I was really surprised that the council wanted to call it that. It's lovely that some good has come out of this."

Richmond Park MP Dr Jenny Tonge said: "I love fireworks and have all my life. They are wonderful but they are becoming ridiculously dangerous. These high category fireworks should only be used in supervised displays."