Yesterday (11 September) at St Albans Magistrate's Court 'H&D brothers Ltd' was fined £11,311 for selling a pack of two kitchen knives to a child aged 16.

The Hitchin-based company owned by Jignesh Patel from Arlesey was subject to an investigation from Hertfordshire Trading Standards in February 2024.

During the operation, a franchised Premier store located at The Mead, Hitchin, owned by H&D brothers Ltd was inspected, following complaints from residents.

During the operation, the premises sold a pack of two knives to a child aged 16.

H & D Brothers Ltd had been provided with advice on several occasions by Hertfordshire Trading Standards due to the volume of complaints received by the department and it was given a number of opportunities to improve the training in the store and their processes when selling knives and other age restricted items.

Cllr Morris Bright said: "Our Trading Standards team are the first people our residents call when they have a consumer complaint, and they work hard to bring those operating illegally and carelessly to court. 

"In this case, officers gave Mr Patel several opportunities to improve his processes, but he chose to ignore their advice.

"Knives are age restricted due to their potential to cause serious harm. Our Trading Standards team will continue to be do everything they can to stop retailers putting knives in the hands of young people and keep residents safe.

"I'd like to commend the officers involved in bringing this case to court." 

Magistrate Korn stated that the bench understood how serious the matter of selling knives potentially could be, and that the courts take it extremely seriously.

He remarked: "You don't have to go far to see the problems that we have with knife crime and when there are so many places to get knives, if a local family store is not taking care, where do we go?"

And added: "The implications of what could potentially happen as a result of a sale to a child is almost unthinkable."