THERE has been a drop in the number of illegal knife sales to youths in the borough - according to figures released by the council.

Waltham Forest Council’s Trading Standards team carry out regular test purchases to ensure shop staff are not flouting the law by selling knives to under-18s.

Recent figures show that no knives were sold to children during 11 attempts in November and only one sale to a minor took place across during eight attempts in October.

This compared with four sales from eight attempts in May and two sales from four attempts in June.

Trading Standards attribute the change to several high-profile prosecutions for underage knife sales and an education campaign designed to help shop owners and staff understand the importance of not selling age-restricted goods like knives, cigarettes and alcohol to children.

Cllr Afzal Akram, the authority's cabinet member for community safety, said: “We want to get knives off our streets and Trading Standards is playing an important part by working with shopkeepers to make it more difficult for young people to buy knives.

“Where we find retailers are flouting the law and selling offensive weapons to young people we will take action against them. We have a zero tolerance policy towards knife crime in Waltham Forest and we’ll carry on with these test purchases to ensure shops are meeting their obligations.”