College to keep knives on site

Public concern about youngsters carrying knives has prompted a London catering college to provide its students with chefs' knives on site rather than having them carry their own sets to and from classes.

Catering students at Thames Valley University's campuses in Ealing, west London, and Slough, Berkshire, previously had to buy their own knives.

But from September this year, each of the eight training kitchens will be equipped with 16 sets of knives, which will be shared by the students and kept at the college.

"It's something we have been concerned about for some time," said Paul Hambleton, head of the university's School of Hospitality Studies.

Mr Hambleton stressed that to his knowledge there had been no incidents involving knives at the college. But he added: "We're concerned that with the public disquiet about weapons this could cause problems in the future, particularly as the majority of students are 16-17 years old. At that age students are perhaps not so responsible. We would rather be seen to be pro-active than reactive in this situation."

A bill currently going through Parliament is set to give police extended powers to stop and search anyone they believe to be carrying knives illegally.

Mr Hambleton said he thought there could be some resistance to the idea that students would no longer have their own sets of knives. "Chefs' knives are very personal to them," he said.

Students would still be allowed to bring their own knives if they wanted to, but the college would insist they were carried in a locked case, rather than a cloth roll, he said.

Middlesbrough College also began providing its students with knives last September, but head of school Chris Mann said that while safety concerns were a factor, the main reason was to help reduce the cost burden for students.