Police and Trading Standards conducted a day of action as part of efforts to prevent knives being sold to underage people in Carlisle.
Eleven premises were visited on July 20 as part of Operation Maxxis. The operation resulted in staff at ten of the visited stores correctly challenging for age identification.
The store that failed the test purchase sold a knife block, containing five kitchen knives, to a 16-year-old male.
PC Mike Watson, Carlisle Local Focus Team, said:
“This was a successful operation in that all bar one store visited correctly challenged our test purchaser for identification. In all the successful cases as soon as our test purchaser failed to verify his age, the sale was refused.
“These joint operations send a clear message to all stores who sell knives to carefully consider the legal age when selling a product.”
Cllr Celia Tibble, Cabinet Member for Trading Standards, said:
“It is vital that retailers have measures in place to prevent underage sales of knives. All retailers – from supermarkets to independent traders – need to make sure their staff are properly trained to prevent knives getting into the hands of children.”
Peter McCall, Cumbria’s Police and Crime Commissioner, said:
“It’s so important that store owners and employees understand their responsibility in helping to prevent knife crime, especially now when knife crime is on the rise.
“I’m very pleased to see that all shops, except one, passed the challenge and would hope this day of action serves as a reminder to all store employees that they need to be vigilant and always question the age of the purchaser if they are in doubt. The consequences of knives or other weapons on our streets are very serious and we can all help to keep our streets safe.”
