Government announces cleaning product age restrictions

Home secretary Amber Rudd has announced mandatory  cleaning product age restrictions that will ban sales of many convenience store products to those under 18 years old.

Speaking at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester Rudd commented: “We have all seen the pictures of victims that never fully recover – endless surgeries, lives ruined.

“So today, I am also announcing a new offence, to prevent the sale of acids to under-18s.”

Though there are currently no guidelines as to what counts as a corrosive substance other than the warning sign on the bottles, it is likely to include products commonly sold in convenience stores such as bleach, drain unblocker and sink cleaner.

The cleaning product age restrictions are to be modeled after the existing age restrictions on knives and sharp objects, meaning the penalty for non-compliant retailers is likely to be up to a £5,000 fine and six months imprisonment.

Previously discussing the prospect of making corrosive substances age restricted, London trading standards spokeperson Steve Playle commented: “We are confident that responsible retailers will be open to any measures that improve controls on the supply of corrosive substances, particularly to young people.”

Despite a 175% increase in the number of attacks reported in England and Wales over the last five years, incidents are mostly limited to London, while the cleaning product age restrictions will apply nationwide.

The setting of the age restriction at 18 is also lower than some current voluntary retailer age checks on corrosive products – Hackney’s is currently set at 21.

Discussing a potential ban and voluntary sales restrictions in his store’s local area, Amil Patel of Londis Crown Lane in Mordon told Retail Express that bans: “Puts the onus on retailers to tackle the issue, why is it our responsibility? It isn’t a problem that happened overnight – it started in homes and in schools, not in shops.”

He added that the ban was unlikely to impact the crime wave due to the widespread availability of the products in homes. “The answer is giving schools, parents and the police the information and power with which to tackle it,” he concluded.