A boxing club is celebrating becoming the latest site of a weapon surrender bin in the Black Country.

The new bin at Team Pumpkin Amateur Boxing Club, in Brierley Hill, takes the total number of weapon bins to 31 across the region, with as many as 659 weapons deposited between April and June last year.

West Midlands PCC Simon Foster said: "Weapon surrender bins are continuing to have a significant impact, because they play an important role in keeping people, families, businesses and communities safe, here in the West Midlands.

 

 

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“I’ve witnessed the bins being cleared and the range of weapons that have been deposited – and then later destroyed – is truly staggering.

"They are ensuring, fewer dangerous weapons out on the streets of the West Midlands, preventing serious violence and communities are safer because of them.

"As I keep stressing, every knife, blade or weapon placed in a surrender bin, is potentially a life saved."

Lastly he extended thanks to Carl Collins and his coaches at the boxing gym for hosting the new bin.

He said: "I'm pleased the latest weapon surrender bin has been installed here in Brierley Hill, next to the Team Pumpkin boxing gym, a place I know continues to have a positive impact on the lives of so many young people."

He credits the bins, along with robust policing and prevention projects, for a seven per cent decrease in serious youth violence year on year.

Head trainer at the club, Mr Collins, said: "Since October 2023, three of our own boxers have been victims to muggings where a knife was shown to threaten them.

“Me and my son Ben work hard within the local community and we sit on a knife summit committee alongside the local police team and nearby schools."