SHOP staff in Swindon were caught selling sold knives to underage customers by a team of police cadets.

The 15 and 16-year-olds went into branches of national chains and small indepedent retailers around the town on Saturday to check whether they would be denied the sale – as it is illegal to sell knives or similar products to anyone under the age of 18.

But more than half of the 15 national chains and one of the four independent shops they visited failed the test. The rest refused to sell the teenage customers any blades.

The council and police would not reveal which shops failed the tests.

Four of the national shops which failed did request a form of ID but did not verify the age of the cadets correctly. The other four retailers did not challenge the test purchaser on their age despite having Challenge 25 policies in place.

Wiltshire Police’s cadets took part in the test purchase operation as part of the national anti-knife crime campaign Operation Sceptre.

Inspector David Tippetts from Wiltshire Police said: “Knife crime and the carrying of knives is a concern amongst some young people and one way to help reduce this is to prevent the sale of knives to those under 18 years old.

“The majority of retailers have robust rules and due diligence in place and wouldn’t sell to those underage, however, by working with Trading Standards to visit retailers, we can get a good idea of whether knives are being illegally sold to young people.

“This activity is all part of our latest knife crime campaign and amnesty – Op Sceptre - aimed at preventing further knife crime and offering the opportunity for people to dump their unwanted and illegal knives without questions being asked.

“My message to retailers is, always check a young person’s ID and question why they would want a knife. 

“If in doubt don’t sell them one. 

“Your actions could save serious harm being caused to that person or another.

”The national chains which failed the test purchasing will be reported to their primary authority Trading Standards services for further investigation and more test purchases will be carried out at a later date to ensure they are complying with the law.

The independent retailer which sold a knife to an underage customer will have its underage policy and systems reviewed by Swindon Trading Standards and will be offered support and advice to ensure it does the right thing in the future. More test purchases will then be made to check the procedures are being followed.

Swindon Trading Standards officers will continue to work closely with retailers to make sure they play their part in ensuring knives do not fall into the hands of young people.

Councillor Cathy Martyn said: “Test purchasing operations like this are incredibly important in our bid to stop the sale of knives to children as we have a duty to keep people safe.

“Although it is extremely disappointing that eight national retail chains failed to comply with their legal obligations, it was positive that the majority of independent local retailers and the other national retailers are complying with the law and refused to sell knives to children.

“We’re working with our partner Trading Standards teams and the businesses themselves to make sure this doesn’t happen again.

“It is a criminal offence to sell knives and bladed articles to children and a summary conviction carries a penalty of six months imprisonment or a fine of £5,000, or both.

“This operation is a stark reminder to businesses and their staff that they need to take the sale of all age-restricted products seriously otherwise they could find themselves being prosecuted.

“We are determined to tackle this issue and are committed to working alongside our partner agencies to ensure compliance and to help reduce the risk to our communities. Wiltshire Police and Swindon Trading Standards will be undertaking test purchase operations in the future in order to ensure local businesses continue to fulfil their legal obligations.”