Policy on the Sales of Bladed Items

 

Here at OLR, we want to provide a service that is safe and secure for our customers wanting to purchase knives or bladed items. As well as fully complying with our legal responsibilities, we have designed our systems in a way that maximises safety, transparency and accountability, with a clear procedure of checks and reassurances.

 

Why this is needed

The Offensive Weapons Act (2019) brought in extra protection against unlawful sales or deliveries of knives or bladed items as a response to increased public concern about knife crime.

We take these risks seriously, while also wanting to enable safe and responsible use of knives and bladed tools we sell. We believe that learning how to use tools safely and responsibly contributes to a valuable and enriching outdoor learning experience. We encourage those who purchase them to ensure their own to ensure their own competence with appropriate training and careful use of risk assessments when working; we back this up by making sure we are diligent with own sales procedures.

What makes us safe and responsible

We have paid attention to all the elements recommended by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, including age restrictions, delivery requirements, and labelling. See table below for full details.

 

What the law requires	What we do
Robust age verification / ID checks at point of sale	Once we receive an order for a bladed item to be sent to a private address, we will contact you to ask you to provide us with proof of age before the item can be sent. People under the age of 18 are not legally allowed to purchase any bladed items. Acceptable forms of proof age include: British passport or EU photocard driving licence.
Delivery process	All bladed items will be sent via an age verified service, this means that packages must be received by someone over the age of 18 and cannot be delivered to a safe place or locker.