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POUNDLAND has banned the sale of kitchen knives across the UK in response to the crime wave hitting the country.
The retailer stopped selling the weapons in London last week and is set to extend the ban to all 850 of its UK and Ireland stores by the end of the year.
The move follows 35 people being fatally stabbed in London since the beginning of the year as violence in the capital spikes.
Austin Cook Poundland's retail director said: "We have committed to take knives out of all our stores, starting with London, which we have done with immediate effect a couple of weeks ago, and we will take them out of the rest of the country by October.
"Since I've come into my role we have had a lot of feedback from our store colleagues that we are retailing knives that can have the wrong ultimate purpose for them.
"We want to take them off our shelves and take them out of the hands of the wrong customers and, whilst there is a sales implication for us, it's much more important to us to protect both our colleagues and our customers from any risk.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/6069878/poundland-stop-selling-knives-london-stabbings/
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Town-centre pound store prosecuted for knife sale
Management and training procedures at the town-centre branch of a national retail chain were questioned when the company was prosecuted for the sale of a knife to under-age customers.
Poundworld Retail Ltd appeared at Croydon Magistrates' Court on 16 May and was fined £4,000 and ordered to pay costs after being found guilty of selling a knife to a person under the age of 18. The total penalty, including victim surcharge, amounted to £8,520.
The court heard that, as part of a test-purchasing exercise conducted by the council's trading standards department, two 14-year-old volunteers went to the store's North End branch on 28 May 2015 and, after selecting a kitchen knife from a display, took it for payment to one of the tills.
The sales assistant, on only his second day at work in the store, failed to challenge the youngsters and the sale was completed.
http://news.croydon.gov.uk/town-centre-pound-store-prosecuted-for-knife-sale/
'You cannot be soft on this': Boris Johnson calls for stop and search increase to combat London knife crime surge
Boris Johnson has called for an increased use of stop and search powers to combat knife crime following a spate of fatal stabbings in London.
The Foreign Secretary warned against "going soft" as he insisted that Scotland Yard and Sadiq Khan "come down like a ton of bricks" on gang leaders.
His comments came after teenager Sami Sidhom, 18, was knifed to death on Monday night in the capital's third killing in two days.
Mr Johnson said when he was Mayor of London he adopted a dual approach that boosted stop and search incidents while mentoring young people to prevent them getting sucked into gang violence.
In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, he told current London mayor Sadiq Khan: "You cannot be soft on this."
London murder rate overtakes New York as knife crime rises
LONDON (Reuters) - London police investigated more murders than their New York counterparts did over the last two months, statistics show, as the British capital's mayor vowed to fight a "violent scourge" on the streets.
There were 15 murders in London in February against 14 in New York, according to London's Metropolitan Police Service and the New York Police Department. For March, 22 murders were investigated in London, with 21 reports in New York.
(Score: 3, Funny) by PiMuNu on Wednesday May 01 2019, @03:10PM (13 children)
Yes it is.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 01 2019, @03:38PM (12 children)
No, it most certainly is not.
(Score: 4, Funny) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Wednesday May 01 2019, @03:58PM (3 children)
Now listen, I came here for a good argument...
(Score: 4, Funny) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday May 01 2019, @05:05PM (2 children)
Oh sorry, this is Abuse. Argument is a few doors down. ... ... ... stupid git...
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Wednesday May 01 2019, @06:34PM (1 child)
The police once tried to seize my Moose...
No, Realli! I was just valking it doon the street and the Bobby came and said, "Here, we'll have that Moose now....."
This sig for rent.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 01 2019, @08:00PM
Well to be fair you must not have been carrying the proper Moose license.
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Wednesday May 01 2019, @04:15PM (7 children)
[Draws knife] *YES it IS*
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 01 2019, @05:37PM
[Draws tablet] *CHECKMATE*
Please don't move, it still takes a little while for the crowbars to reach the ground.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday May 01 2019, @06:30PM (5 children)
So now drawing a knife will result in banning pencils, pens, etc.
It's a sacrifice. But it will keep us safe.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 01 2019, @07:37PM (2 children)
Haven't you seen those BIC pen commercials where they shoot them into things and they still write. Must be a write wing thing.
(Score: 2) by edIII on Wednesday May 01 2019, @07:51PM (1 child)
LOL. In all seriousness, those will be the next to go. I remember getting into some wars with thick rubber bands, BIC pens, and paper clips. It stopped when I embedded a paper clip into some kids eye. Thankfully, it deflected and lodged into his eye instead of puncturing it.
Never underestimate the possibilities of "McGyvering" a weapon out of a BIC pen. For truly advanced weapon ideas from basic items, just visit your local prison.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Friday May 03 2019, @04:14AM
In grade school I made a mini bow from a plastic pen filler, a couple of straight pins, and a rubber band, and used a metal pen filler as my arrow. Imagine my surprise when I shot it across the room and my improvised arrow went right through the drywall and disappeared into the wall.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 1) by DECbot on Wednesday May 01 2019, @07:48PM
[Draws middle finger] *GREAT THINKING!* Now kids will resort to drawing knives in the dirt with sticks. Then you'll tell us we'll have to ban trees because they make sticks. And then the children will draw with their fingers. What next? Remove the fingers?!?
cats~$ sudo chown -R us /home/base
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 01 2019, @07:55PM
Banning pencils?, just wait 'till they see the pencil kill scene in John Wick: chapter 2..