Selling a £2.49 knife to children has proved a costly decision for a central Croydon store whose bill for the blunder runs into the thousands.

Six years after Poundstretcher was prosecuted for selling a set of knives to two teenagers, the shop in Church Street has admitted repeating the offence.

The store pleaded guilty at Croydon Magistrates Court to selling a knife to a person aged under 18 and was fined £3,400.

The court heard a 14-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl bought an eight-inch cook’s knife during a Croydon Council test purchasing exercise.

Checkout worker Muhammed Ibraheem scanned it and several other items, without challenging the pair or enquiring their ages.

Since the sale on October 30 last year, Mr Ibraheem has undertaken, and passed, training on age-restricted products.

Magistrates heard up until the time of the test purchasing the store had ignored trading standards’ offers of free staff training about age-restricted products.

The court was told Poundstretcher had informed the council that it was the reponsibility of the store manager to train staff in relation to age-restricted products, and that no corporate checks are made to establish whether the training has been carried out.

Back in 2009 Poundstretcher was ordered to pay £5,000 in fines and costs, after admitting two charges of selling knives to under-age children.

The charges related to sales made in the Church Street and Orpington branches.