Praise for High Peak shops after underage knife sting

Police have praised retailers in the High Peak, after they refused to sell knives to under 18s.

A 16 year old volunteer visited five stores in Buxton, one store in Glossop and one store in New Mills with Derbyshire County Council’s Trading Standards, as part of a police and trading standard operation.

The retailers were all revisited this month after they failed during a test purchase operation in August 2018, and sold knives without asking the teenager for identification.

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“We will be continuing to work with Derbyshire County Council Trading Standards, and our other partnership agencies as part of our long term commitment to tackling and preventing knife related crime in our area.”

“I am very pleased that their efforts are paying off and that traders are taking notice of the rules.

“The consequences of knives falling into the wrong hands can be devastating and it is something we take very seriously.”

It is an offence to sell a knife, knife blade, razor, axe or other article which has a blade or is sharply pointed to anyone under 18. Where a knife is sold to an underage person, the person who sold the knife and the retailer can be held responsible.

The maximum penalty for selling a knife is up to six months imprisonment and a £5,000 fine