Southwark council fines retailer £2.7k for selling knife to a child
A town hall has fined a man for selling a knife to a 16-year-old who was part of a test to catch traders selling knives to children.
Jerrom White, 31, from Peckham, who worked at Peckham Spares, 151-153 Peckham Hill Street, sold a £5 snap-off knife to a Southwark council volunteer, even though she could not produce ID when asked if she had any.
White, a retailer and sales assistant, was fined £2,679.40 by Camberwell Green
Magistrates on September 23 after being found guilty of selling a snap-off knife to a child.
In February 2019, Southwark council trading standards sent a 16-year-old girl
volunteer to test purchase knives.
It is illegal to sell knives to anyone under the age of 18.
An under-cover community warden was in the premises to watch the sale in an operation that is part of an ongoing Home Office-funded programme of enforcement.
The company that runs the store, Harpreet Bansal Limited, and the seller failed to attend court and the case was dealt with in their absence.
Councillor Evelyn Akoto, cabinet member for community safety and public health, said: “This trader fell well short of what we expect and sold a knife without taking the vital steps necessary to check the age of the purchaser.
“The onus is on all of us to create a safe environment for our community and
we will continue to work closely with Southwark businesses, to ensure that they
follow the best practice when stocking and selling knives, as we all know that in the wrong hands use of a knife can have devastating consequences.”
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