A rogue firework smashed a car windscreen, causing hundreds of pounds of damage.

Sophie Harding, 29, of Village Drive, Canvey, couldn’t believe her eyes when she found her car windscreen destroyed on Saturday morning.

The remnants of what appeared to be a professional standard firework were left scattered around the front of her house.

The mum-of-two, who questioned the safety of such fireworks being sold for home use, said she had been startled by a particularly loud explosion the night before.

Mrs Harding said: “We walked out the house on Saturday morning and there was this huge crack in the windscreen.

“We were completely confused until we saw the plastic tubing still full of gun powder in the road.

“We did hear a massive bang on Friday night at about 9.30pm.

“We spoke to the neighbours and they said it made them jump as well.

“If it has smashed my window, just think what would have happened if it had hit a person, or if we had been in the car.

“It would be a completely different story.”

There have been a number of incidents across the island over the last week.

Police have been cracking down on sales of fireworks to those under 18 across Castle Point because of the spate of antisocial behaviour.

Mrs Harding, who works part-time, has now discovered it will cost £300 to repair the windscreen.

However, she said she was grateful the damage wasn’t as bad as it could have been.

She said: “It was not a garden display firework, definitely not.

“The problem is, you have all these pop up containers selling professional standard fireworks, but people do not know how to use them safely.”

Mrs Hardy added: “I’m pretty sure it wasn’t intentional, but it was someone not being sensible with fireworks that is for sure.

“They’ve had a good laugh, and I have had my weekend ruined.

“People keep saying to me, be thankful it didn’t go right through the windscreen and set the care on fire, which I guess is true. But I am still left paying out for someone else’s stupidity.”