Undercover agents test shops' knife sale policy

4:32pm Saturday 23rd February 2013 in Colchester By James Cox

UNDERCOVER Trading Standards investigators have challenged stores that do not ID young looking people buying knives.

Officers visited big name shops throughout Colchester, and surrounding borough, on Saturday.

An 18-year-old officer, who the Gazette has agreed not to name, approached shop counters with large, off-the-shelf kitchen knives to see if she was challenged by staff.

But three shops failed the test – The Range, in Cowdray Avenue, Homebase in Stanway Tollgate and Highwoods Tesco.

The sale was completely legal, as she is old enough to buy blades, but shops should be requesting identification under the nationally recognised Challenge 25 scheme.

Full report, pictures and interviews in Monday's Gazette.

Comments(5)

Boris says...
12:52am Sun 24 Feb 13

Since when was ID a verb?
.
More to the point, are the three shops going to be prosecuted? If not, why not?

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wellnow says...
10:37am Sun 24 Feb 13

We are now welcoming more people from parts of the union were our firearms and knife laws would be little understood.vigilance and enforcement must be rigorous.

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WivRes says...
7:02pm Sun 24 Feb 13

No offence committed, although stores probably got a useful reminder of their obligations. Most interesting bit of the story is that the are 18 year old officers at Trading Standards. Good for them!

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Rad2586 says...
10:34am Mon 25 Feb 13

Boris wrote:
Since when was ID a verb? . More to the point, are the three shops going to be prosecuted? If not, why not?
Why would you prosecute a shop for selling a knife to an 18 year old. Nothing illegal has happened.

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Boris says...
12:13am Tue 26 Feb 13

Rad2586 wrote:
Boris wrote:
Since when was ID a verb? . More to the point, are the three shops going to be prosecuted? If not, why not?
Why would you prosecute a shop for selling a knife to an 18 year old. Nothing illegal has happened.
The law requires the shop to check the young person's ID. If the shop failed to do that, it broke the law.
All three shops belong to large national chains. Prosecutions should make them take their responsibilities more seriously, train their staff better, and, in the long run, make our streets a little safer.

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