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Vaud winegrower fined for tardy fireworks

Malcolm Curtis
Malcolm Curtis - [email protected]
Vaud winegrower fined for tardy fireworks
Vineyards in Aigle. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

A winegrower from the Chablais region of Vaud failed in his bid to overturn a fine for letting off fireworks on his property a day after the Swiss national holiday last year.

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Hugues Baud put on a pyrotechnic display to celebrate the night of August 2nd after rain put a damper on the fun the previous evening.

But police arrived and demanded to see his papers.

“Clear off, you have no business here,” Baud recalled telling the officers, according to an online report from the 20 Minutes newspaper.

The viticulturist was slapped with a 190-franc ($204) fine because fireworks are only permitted on the national holiday, according to the law in the municipality of Aigle, where Baud lives.

“They have nothing to say when they wake us with their sirens but I cannot let off a few fireworks . . . without them coming into my garden,” an angry Baud is quoted as saying by 20 Minutes.

Baud relented at a police court in Vevey on Wednesday when faced with the prospect of 400 francs in additional costs on top of the fine.

Frédéric Pernet, chairman of the Aigle municipal police commission, would not be drawn into saying how many people in the region were penalized for using fireworks on August 2nd last year.

Regarding Baud, the winegrower, it was his response to officers that caused the problem, Pernet told 20 Minutes.

“We must support our police in a case before the court,” he said.

“As for our regulation regarding fireworks, (we show) tolerance during normal hours and if there are no complaints,” Pernet said.

“But we have cases every year outside of August 1st.”

According to its sources, 20 Minutes said police arrived at Baud's house before 10pm on the night in question.

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