'First of it's kind' amnesty van visits Coventry
The amnesty van is travelling across England in a national campaign against knife crime
A weapon amnesty van, designed to help tackle knife crime visited Coventry.
The van is travelling across the country and began in the West Midlands, with Coventry Transport Museum being one of the first stops.
The van will soon tour to other locations with high rates of knife crime such as Greater Manchester and London.
The van contains a 4ft wide bin which aims to encourage young people to dispose of their weapons anonymously.
The nationwide initiative is backed by the Home Office and charities such as Word 4 Weapons and FazAmnesty.
Faron Paul, founder of FazAmnesty, created the idea of the van tour and travelled to Coventry as part of the campaign.
Faron said: I’m proud to support the extended surrender scheme and the launch of the mobile amnesty van which gives people a safe and easy way to hand in weapons, knives and other dangerous items.
"By taking this service directly into communities, I hope we can reach more individuals, encourage positive decisions and help reduce the number of harmful items on our streets.
"This initiative is an important step towards preventing violence, building trust and supporting our ongoing efforts to create safer, stronger communities for everyone."
The tour aligns with the ninja sword surrender and compensation scheme which will be running in police stations across England and Wales.
The ban on ninja swords is a result of the tireless campaigning of the Kanda family, who tragically lost their son Ronan in 2022 when he was killed with one of these deadly weapons.