OXFORD Mail readers have backed fireworks organisers who hit out at 'freeloaders' for finding ways to watch a town's display without paying.

Organisers of Didcot Fireworks said they would not be able to stage a display next year because so many people chose to watch from a nearby hill for free.

Almost 1,000 of you had your say in our poll asking whether it was wrong to watch the fireworks for free, with 64 per cent saying people should have paid to watch the event.

READ AGAIN: Organisers slam freeloaders for not supporting fireworks display  

But 36 per cent of voters maintained there was nothing wrong with watching from outside for free, despite a controversial Facebook post from Didcot Pyromusical Fireworks saying people had shown a lack of respect for not paying the 'measly fee'.

Readers continued to offer a wide spectrum of opinions in response to the poll, with one, eyesinthesky_69, commenting: "I used to live near a large unnamed field that an annual music festival was held in. I could hear every word.

"Does that make me a freeloader or should I have walked around for the weekend with earplugs in?"

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Another, John Voldemort-Percival, added: "I fail to see how anyone, anywhere can hold a firework display without members of the public 'watching it for free.'

"That's a bit like telling people not to stand outside an RAF/Military base and watch an air show. How is it preventable? It isn't. Well, unless it was held indoors!"

But reader andy1975 suggested it was down to the motives of those who watched the display for free.

He wrote: "I'd say it depends whether you went out with the sole intention of watching the display without paying.

"If so then yes, I'd say its morally wrong. If you happened to be out and about and stopped for a few minutes to watch before carrying on, no."