A business in Hitchin has been fined more than £11,000 for selling knives to children.

H&D Brothers Ltd, owned by Arlesey's Jignesh Patel, was fined £11,311 at St Albans Magistrates' Court for selling a pack of two kitchen knives to a child aged 16.

Hertfordshire Trading Standards officers undertook an intelligence led operation focusing on the sale of age restricted goods 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 and reports from partner agencies.

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

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

"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," said Cllr Morris Bright, executive member for community safety at Hertfordshire County Council.

"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."

"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?," said Magistrate Korn in court.

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