Patio-heater ban moves a step closer

Plans to ban outdoor patio heaters have moved a step closer to reality after European MPs voted to support a report calling for a time-tabled phase out of the devices.

Critics of the heaters claim that they contribute to climate change, by releasing both heat and carbon into the atmosphere.

The report's British author, Fiona Hall, claimed that the heaters served little or no effect in terms of warming people up.

"Patio heaters are scandalous because they are burning fossil fuels in the open sky, so producing vast quantities of CO2 with very little heat benefit," she wrote in the report.

"We urge the commission to set a timetable for completely taking off the market some appliances that are intrinsically inefficient, such as patio heaters."

However, moves towards a ban have been strongly opposed by pub landlords, who have cited government statistics indicating that the heaters produce just over 22,000 tonnes of carbon annually, compared to 21 million tonnes from household heating and hot water.