What's the law on carrying a knife?
 

Is it illegal to carry any sort of knife? Surely a penknife is ok?

I purchased a coat recently which came with its own (small) swiss army knife (on a chain & with it's own purpose made inside pocket to keep it in!!!)

I realized that I should really remember to take it out when i next fly, but someone has said I'd be breaking the law by having it on me in any public place.

Surely not!!!:wonder:

:eek: i usually have a small swiss army knife in my coat, never occured to me it was illegal. Spose you could scratch someone with the corkscrew bit lol.

Where IS ajm these days?

I think it was something like "blade over 3 inches long without good reason", so if you're fishing it's OK.

Carrying an offensive weapon is illegal, but it's notoriously hard to say what that means. A snapped off car aerial could be an offensive weapon.

I think there is (was?) some guidance about penknives - I seem to recall something about blades under 2" that don't lock being ok. I do think a locking blade leads to a presumption that it's for use as a weapon and not a pencil sharpener.

I expect a copper will be along shortly to answer properly.

Any size knife is OK, as long as you have good reason for carrying it i.e. Fishing, hunting etc. Other than that, it's up to 3" long. If your a young scroat though, then any knife will get confiscated.
Just the same as I can happily carry my shotgun around in the back of the car, just a long as I'm going to, or returning from the shoot.

There is always a chance that the cops will confiscate a knife or gun, just to be sure, but you will be able to retreive it once they are happy for it's use and why you were carrying it.

Ever seen True Romance? Ouch :eek:

I'm fairly sure there's a specific exemption in the Offensive Weapons Act for a folding knife less than 3" long which has no latching mechanism - basically, a swiss army knife is OK, but nothing else without good reason.

I've walked into the pub after work with my leatherman in my pocket by mistake. (I normally leave it at work.) It makes me wonder if I'm braking the law then :confused:

Looks like I'm ok then!

You can legally carry a sub 3" non locking folder with out much hassle.

However if the plod stop you you may be asked to justify it. Any knife with a bigger blade locking or fixed will land you in trouble and will require a very good reason for carrying it.


here's 1 for all the people who carry leathermans / Gerbers etc (myself included). Only the PST 1 and 2 are EDC (all the rest lock) (every day carry) that are legal.

As for walking into a pub carrying a mutli tool, your skating on thin ice, it depends on the cops.

These are 2 very good threads worth reading over on British Blades (a forum for Knife makers and collectors)

http://www.britishblades.com/forums/...ead.php?t=8336

http://www.britishblades.com/forums/...ead.php?t=2011

Section 139 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 prohibits the possession in a public place of any article which has a blade or is sharply pointed (including a folding pocketknife if the cutting edge of its blade exceeds 7.62cm/3 inches).

Having a bladed article carries two years imprisonment on indictment.

I wouldn't worry about carrying a small swiss army style knife, but it depends where you are.. I would expect it to be confiscated if you were out in town for example..

I guess swords are out then. Even if they are sheathed?

Pork ones are ok though, and they must be sheathed in public.

as stilover said earlier in the post, it's fine if you have a valid reason for carrying it.. if you were going to a martial arts class and you were carrying your sword in a responsible manner, then there would be no problem.. however it may still be seized pending further investigation.. but you would get it back if there were no problems..

It's OK if it's an antique (over 100 years old), required for religious ceromony, part of a traditional dress / costume, being used for a re-enactment / play or "other reasonable use".

However, in light of the Police's itchy trigger finger when it comes to table legs and plastic bags and electricians with invisible ruck sacks, I'm not sure if you'd get the opportunity to provide your reasonable explanation. However, if you want to run in to a school with it and hack up a few kids, you'll probably be fine.

Up to 3 inches so long as it doesnt lock, then its a made offensive weapon

So long as you dont happen to walk past the scene of a recent burglary wearing your coat and get lifted for going equipped, you'll be ok!

Hehe funniest comment all day! :D

What on earth has the locking bit got to do with anything, i could easily stap someone with a non locking knife. However for it to be a useful tool it needs to be able to lock.

I carry a knife in my bag at all times, mainly cause I am to lazy to take it out. Use it at work all weekend.

I'm 14, so can i take a swis army knife fishing, it's for a good reason, i.e. cutting bait, cutting line, hook removel(SP) etc.

Scotty:confused: :confused:

Id be careful with that.

When i was about 18 i was on my way fishing with a few m8s down to the River wear in sunderland. Had to walk through city centre to get there. On the way we were stopped by police and searched for offensive weapons.

They searched through my fishing box and took my swiss army knife off me aswell of a leatherman one of my friends had. It was obvious we was on our way fishing consideing we was wearing floatation suits aswell as having the fishing rods, boxes etc.


Thing that annoyed me was at the time we was being searched was the fact that standing behind was a group of Goths. Few of them had those bike chains hanging from their trowsers aswell as wearing strange claw things that could cause alot more damage than a small swiss army knife.

This did happen around that time where they had all the hand in boxes around the police stations for offensive weapons.