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Trading Standards officers are running an undercover operation to check if traders are selling two of the most dangerous age-restricted products available to children.

Volunteer youngsters will attempt to buy knives and cigarette lighter refills containing butane from shops and markets across Leicestershire.

It is an offence to sell either product to anyone under the age of 18. Businesses and staff which sell illegally risk a £5,000 fine and or six months in prison.

Disappointingly, 25 per cent of shops subjected to a test purchase attempts last year sold either a knife or butane to a 15 year old child.

Knife crime has a devastating effect on families and communities. Nationally a knife incident happens every 25 minutes, 80 per cent of offenders are aged between 12 and 20, and a third of victims aged between 10 and 17.

Butane is a gas found in cigarette lighter refills and, if inhaled, it can kill first time. Young people remain the group most associated with solvent abuse, most deaths occurring in the 14 to 18 age range.

 

Statistics like these simply re-enforce the importance of not selling to under 18s.

David Bull, Head of Leicestershire County Council Trading Standards Service said: “We work throughout the year to help businesses to comply with the law and not sell to those under 18. We hope that none of the shops we visit will sell, but any that do will be firmly dealt with. Our advice is simple – no ID no sale.

“Businesses in the County who would like a free pack of practical precautions or consider they need further advice to deal with age restricted sales should contact the Trading Standards Business Advice Line on 0116 305 8000.”

Background Information

Knife test purchases in Leicestershire over the last 6 years:

Year

Attempts

Sales

Failure rate

02/03

15

6

40%

03/04

10

4

40%

04/05

8

2

25%

05/06

10

0

0%

06/07

1

1

100%

07/08

8

2

25%

Total

52

15

29%

Enquiries are continuing into the sales of knives in 2007/08.

Current legislation relating to knives:

Criminal Justice Act 1988 (as amended by the Offensive Weapons Act 1996 and the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006) – The sale to any child under 18 of any knife, knife blade or razor blade, any axe or any article that has a pointed blade and is made or adapted for causing injury to persons is illegal. This includes kitchen knives, cutlery and utility knives. Maximum penalty six months imprisonment and/or £5000 fine.

Although there are exemptions for pen knives with a blade of less than 3” long, nearly all items with a blade are illegal to sell to under 18s.

A knife incident happens every 25 minutes. 4 in 5 offenders are aged between 12 and 20 years and a third of victims aged between 10 and 17 years – Home Office site www.knifecrimes.org

A MORI Survey for the Youth Justice Board found that 29% of secondary school children (57% of those excluded) admitted to routinely carrying knives.

Butane test purchases in Leicestershire over the last 6 years:

Year

Attempts

Sales

Failure rate

02/03

22

3

14%

03/04

11

3

27%

04/05

14

0

0%

05/06

2

0

0%

06/07

0

0

0%

07/08

8

2

25%

Total

57

8

14%

Both the businesses that sold butane illegally last year (to a 15 year old child on the 20th December 2007) were prosecuted, the results of which are as follows:

Barrow upon Soar business. Guilty plea, fined £1,500 reduced for early guilty plea to £1,000, costs £500, all payable within 7 days.

Loughborough business. Charges were brought against the business as well as the Director. Both entered a guilty plea, the Director was fined £1000 + £15 victim surcharge, no separate penalty was imposed on the company but it was ordered to pay the County Council’s costs £1499.08.

In 2001, Volatile Solvent Abuse (VSA) was responsible for 7 times the number of fatalities than those related to ecstasy (http://www.thesite.org/drinkanddrugs/drugsafety/usingdrugs/solventabuse)

The 2003 annual report from the EU’s drug agency warned that one problem often overlooked but with a big impact on public health is young people’s use of solvents and inhalants. After alcohol and cannabis these are the substances most commonly used by 15 to 16 year olds in the EU, and found that one in 7 15 and 16 year olds in Britain sniff solvents to get high.

Drugs charity SOLVE IT says solvent abuse kills 60 young people each year in the UK, while St Georges Hospital Medical School’s annual report on mortalities from solvent and volatile substance abuse (2001) puts the figure at 75.

One third of young people that die from VSA are first time solvent abusers. Young people remain the group most associated with solvent abuse – between 1971 and 2000 most deaths from VSA occurred in the 14-18 age range (SOLVE IT).

Gas fuels continue to be associated with the majority of deaths. In 2001, butane lighter fuel accounted for two-thirds of VSA deaths (42 of 63 deaths).

Help with butane and other volatile substance abuse is available by contacting New Directions on 0116 2229529 (under 18s) or Adult Services on 0116 2229559