Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
A Poundland store has had to pay more than £4,000 after being caught selling a knife to a 17-year-old.
The retailer’s Romford branch has been ordered to pay £4,030 in fines and court costs after selling the 7½in blade to the youth, who was part of a council sting.
The store pleaded guilty to selling the carving knife to the teenager, who was working with Havering Council’s Trading Standards department.
Havering Magistrates’ Court heard that the sales assistant who sold the knife did not ask the age of the customer or ask for identification.
The court also heard the same store had a similar conviction from 2005, when it was ordered to pay £3,000 in fines and court costs.
In mitigation, the firm said it had recently put in place a better system of training and sanctioning employees and had retrained the part-time employee responsible for selling the knife.
The council’s principal trading standards officer, Bill Adams, said: “We will continue to carry out test purchasing operations so that the message goes out loud and clear to stores and shopkeepers – we don’t want people carrying knives on our streets.”
