Newham Shop Keepers Take a Stand on Acid Sales
Newham shop keepers have come out in strong support of a new scheme to prevent the sale of acid to young people, 80 have agreed to challenge the age of its customers.
The scheme is a partnership between Newham and the Metropolitan Police, asking shopkeepers to sign an agreement to challenge anyone that looks under 25 and refuse to sell to anyone under 21 acid or noxious liquids, refusing to sell them at all to anyone suspected of wanting it for unlawful purposes.
Sir Robin Wales, Mayor of Newham, said: “We know that in Newham acid has increasingly become the weapon of choice for young criminals, as a result of tougher sentences for knife crime.”
The scheme was created in the wake of several high profile crimes involving using acid or noxious liquids as a weapon across London, including a recent attack in Stratford injuring six people and prompting the arrest of a 15 year old boy.
Lyn Brown MP for West Ham, said: “Both victims and suspects tend to be young men, with some suspects significantly younger than 18. Whatever the root cause, the most practical and immediate thing we can do to tackle this problem is to restrict and monitor access to corrosives. Use of acid as a weapon of convenience is likely to drop, if that convenience is removed.”
Businesses are already displaying signs that age and identity of shoppers will be challenged, in fact out of the 161 shop keepers visited, 87 sign up, 23 are awaiting signatures from the shop owners and an impressive 51 confirmed they no longer sell these liquids, meaning no business refused to join the scheme.
Stephen Timms MP for East Ham, said: “This is an encouraging example of local multiagency working between the police, the council and local businesses to help stop corrosive substances falling into the possession of young people in our borough.”
Under current legislation there is no legal age to sell these liquids to and many people feel the government need to act, Timms added: “We call on the Government to impose tougher licensing conditions and robust codes of practice on the sale of noxious substances. We support the British Retail Consortium and Association of Convenience Stores proposal that a valid licence and photo identification should be required to purchase sulphuric acid”.
This scheme is an important one for the borough and the hope is that more local authorities will follow suit or better yet the Government will bring in suitable legislation to clamp down on the sale if what is effectively a dangerous weapon.