A WOMAN from Stourbridge spoke up about the knife crime 'crisis' that is affecting the area on the BBC's Question Time last night.

Sara West, aged 33, was in the audience of the hit BBC politics show when it was filmed at Dudley Town Hall last night (March 7).

Questions on knife crime dominated the beginning of the programme, and Sara added her thoughts on how knife crime is affecting Stourbridge.

She pointed out that petty crime has 'evolved' into knife crime and demanded that more action be taken to tackle the problem and keep communities safe.

She asked the panel: "It's a national crisis and when are we going to recognise it as a national crisis?"

She added: "To talk you through local issues, there's petty crime such as fishing a car key through a letter box that now locally has turned into knife crime. People are holding people up an knife point for the car key."

"Petty crime has evolved into knife crime, locally and up and down the country.

"When is it going to be declared a national crisis?"

Once Sara had been confirmed as an audience member, she took to local Facebook groups to gather her community's ideas on what she should ask and knife crime came out as a pressing concern.

Sara, who works as a business development manager, said: "It was Stourbridge's view."

"We need to get everyone in a room to sort this out. We need action, not words.

"Not enough is being done to prevent it.

"Every morning I wake up and see a new thing has happened on Facebook."

Stourbridge has seen a spate of knife-related burglaries and robberies in recent months.

Last month an elderly couple in Stourbridge were threatened at their home by a masked man wielding a machete.