Five shops fined for selling knives to children

They were all prosecuted after failing to heed prior warnings from Trading Standards in what has been described as a ‘sad state of affairs’ by one city licensing chief.

The incidents come in the wake of several fatal stabbings in Birmingham this year with recent statistics showing knife-crime across the West Midlands is on the rise.

The five traders, sentenced in June and July, all pleaded guilty to one offence of selling a knife to a person under the age of 18 years, in breach of the Criminal Justice Act.

They were named in a report to Birmingham City Council’s Licensing and Public Protection committee earlier this month.

The traders were; Toolman on Coventry Road, Yardley, which sold a Hi-Tech cutter knife to a child. The shop was fined £400 and ordered to pay £400 in costs.

Poundplus on Lozells Road in Lozells sold a three-pack of three inch bladed kitchen knives. Rabia and Sons Ltd was fined £400 and ordered to pay £500 in costs.

Also in Lozells on College Road, Electrical and Hardware sold a jab saw. Jasbinder Pal Heer was fined £80 and had to pay £50 costs.

And Pound’n’Over on Fairfax Road in Turves Green sold a heavy cutting knife with six extra blades. Mohammed Zahid was fined £400 and ordered to pay £1,259 in costs.

Finally, Kam Electrical and Hardware on Church Road in Yardley sold a jab saw. The shop was fined £1,000 and told to pay £1,141 in costs.

A sixth trader also pleaded guilty but escaped punishment after being handed an absolute discharge by the court.

Councillor Majid Mahmood on the committee called on Trading Standards to hand out leaflets to businesses emphasising the potentially fatal consequences of under-age knife sales and also warning they will be prosecuted for under-age knife sales

He said: “We’ve had a number of deaths in the city, one death is too many and we need to do everything we can in our power to stop that happening.”

Paul Lankester, interim assistant director for regulation and enforcement, added: “All of those prosecutions happened after there had been a previous visit by Trading Standards advising them of the legislation, people still do things when they have been advised not to.

“It is a sad state of affairs. I agree, one death, one stabbing is one too many.”