A UK supermarket chain has stopped selling a common kitchen utensil in a bid do tackle crime rates.
Morrisons has stopped selling traditional pointed kitchen knives. The move, a first in the UK, comes after police data showed 49,151 knife or sharp instrument offences last year. This is a 50 per cent rise over the past decade.
Morrisons will now only sell blunt-ended knives that cannot pierce skin.
View 3 ImagesThe retailer is planning to close 100 stores over the coming months(Image: Peter Dazeley, Getty Images)
On December 5, Morrisions shoppers and staff were forced to evacuated as a man waving a knife went on a “rampage”.
Milad Panjshiri, 22, was carrying a six-inch blade as he stormed into the supermarket in Bradford, West Yorkshire, before trashing aisles.
Video footage showed Panjshiri hurling wine bottles onto the floor. The violent outburst left the supermarket covered in shattered glass as shoppers fled the scene.
He waved a knife at a female member of staff and shoppers, including the elderly, had to be ushered out of the shop for their own safety.
Last month, Panjshiri was sentenced to 18 months in prison, but a judge said he may only serve “40%” of the time handed down.
Speaking on Morrisons‘ decision to stop selling sharp knives, Corporate Affairs Director David Scott said: “They’re just as effective in the kitchen but reduce the risk of harm.”
Scott said he hoped the move would “help normalise safer knives and make our communities safer.”
A knife attack survivor has campaigned for people to make the switch to rounded-tip knives.
Leanne Lucas’ campaign started after a knife attack in July 2024 when a 17-year-old killed three girls and injured ten others with an 8-inch kitchen knife.
She said that such an event “must never be repeated” and urged MPs to support her Let’s Be Blunt campaign.
View 3 ImagesKitchen knives (stock image)(Image: (Image: Getty))
Her efforts are supported by The Ben Kinsella Trust, a charity working to reduce knife crime.
The trust’s Chief Executive Patrick Green said the introduction of blunted knives “remove the opportunity, the impulsivity.”
Morrisons’ move to discontinue a product line comes as the supermarket chain prepares to close 100 stores across the UK.
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The proposed closures will involve loss-making stores, described by the chain as “the most challenged” in its retail estate.