A store-owner has been ordered to pay almost £2,000 after selling a utility knife to a 15-year-old.
Apputukan Padmakumar, admitted selling the utility knife, similar to a Stanley knife, which was on general display at his store, 7 Days, in Thornton Road, Croydon.

The store sells a wide mix of DIY products, household items as well as food and was targeted by the council in a crackdown.

Croydon Magistrates' Court heard last Tuesday (17 February) that the 15-year-old was a volunteer working alongside the council's trading standards service to check if the borough's shops were selling knives to anyone underage.

During the sale, which was witnessed by a trading standards officer in October last year, the shopkeeper neither asked the boy's age or for proof of identity. The court fined him £1,000 and ordered him to pay £807 costs.

Padmakumar pleaded guilty by letter, writing: "I find trading standards operations unfair and unjust because they didn't provide a warning of such tests in the area."