zTWO pensioners were left terrified after fireworks were pushed through the letterboxes of their Blackburn homes in a cruel Bonfire Night prank.

And in Burnley a father was knocked unconscious as he shielded his son from a rogue firework which had shot into the crowd at a bonfire display.

Firefighters were called to two addresses in Leeds Close, Blackburn, in the early hours of Sunday.

One lady who suffers from emphysema struggled to breathe as smoke from the firework filled her hall.

And next door a 75-year-old lady was also targeted.

Her grand-daughter, who was called for help, said she was worried that this would be "the straw that broke the camel's back" after her grandma had only found out last week that she had cancer.

A neighbour said she had her letterbox blocked up after the same thing happened to her last year.

She said: "I was terrified when it happened to me. The house was thick with smoke.

"I was so worried it would happen again that my son came and blocked my letterbox up for me.

"It is absolutely shocking to do something like this, especially to elderly people."

The man running the display at Malt Shovel pub, Burnley, where people were injured also prevented scores of other spectators being injured when he hurled another firework lit by the first device away from the crowd.

Adrian Harwood, 30, and his 10-year-old son Carl, were injured when a faulty firework exploded by them at the registered display.

A police investigation found the incident at the Hargrove Avenue pub was an accident. Mr Harwood's mother, Anne, 54, today called for tighter restrictions regulating the manufacturing and selling of fireworks.

Firefighters also attended an incident in Hereford Road, Blackburn, where a lit rocket was posted through a letterbox.

Watch manager, Aidan Fortune, said: "Luckily all the internal doors were closed because the rocket has bounced around the hallway.

"One of the main dangers of putting fireworks through people's letterboxes is that if the sparks start a fire and people are inside it will block their escape route and trap them in the house."

Lit fireworks were also put into post boxes in Saunders Road, and Ballantrae Road, Blackburn, setting fire to and destroying any post inside.

In Hyndburn firefighters complained that some residents were using Bonfire Night as an excuse to burn rubbish in the borough's back streets.

Out of the 33 incidents they attended on Saturday night 25 were to deal with deliberate rubbish fires.

Firefighters were called to a car fire in Fairclough Road, Accrington, at around 3.20pm on Saturday when a firework was put in through window of the car, which is thought to have been abandoned.

Firefighters were called to a bonfire in Whitendale Crescent, Blackburn, at 7pm last night after someone put a gas cylinder into the flames.