No more Mr. Knife Guy

Mr Abu Ubaid, the company director behind NUHA & AIDAH LIMITED, plead guilty to the illegal sale of a £3.99 kitchen knife to a 12-year-old child at a Thames Magistrates Court hearing on Tuesday 17 June.

The combined £15,398 in penalties, charges and costs handed down by the court also included fines related to the possession of counterfeit cigarettes and vapes. 

Waltham Forests Trading Standards Officers carried out a test purchase of age restricted products at Joey’s Discount Store, 567 Lea Bridge Road E10 7EQ, on Thursday 22 August 2024.

The business owner told the court he had left a trainee shop assistant in charge at the time of the offence, having left the left the shop due to a family emergency. The seller of the knife advised officers that she was not aware that the sale of a knife to a minor constituted an offence.

Further investigation at the store uncovered a quantity of illegal tobacco products, including counterfeit Benson and Hedges and a e-cigarettes. The owner told officers that the seized cigarettes and e-cigarettes were not for sale and were acquired as gift from a friend for his personal use.

Thames Magistrates Court ordered NUHA & AIDAH LIMITED to pay £8,333 for the underage sale of a JIALICHU kitchen knife, a combined £3,666 fine for possession of illegal cigarettes and vapes, plus a victim surcharge of £2,000 and costs of £1,399. 

Cllr Khevyn Limbajee, Waltham Forest’s Cabinet Member for Community Safety, said: 

Leaving an unattended trainee in charge of a business is a grave abdication of responsibility and an unacceptable excuse for the underage sale of a potentially dangerous weapon. 

We owe it to our residents to protect them from such recklessness and we will prosecute anyone who fails to protect young people and Waltham Forest more widely from harm.

Retailers who sell age restricted products must implement effective systems that are regularly monitored and updated, to prevent the sale of age restricted products to the underaged. 

Residents are asked to report incidents to Trading Standards trading.standards@walthamforest.gov.uk.