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Is carrying a certain knife in the UK, more specifically England, allowed? And what type of knives do these have to be? e.g. blade length.

Would carrying such knife be allowed if you do not have a valid reason to carry it such as needing it for work?

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1 Answers1

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Short answer:

It depends. It is lawful if one has a lawful reason, such as it's needed for work, or it's a folding pocketknife (e.g. a Swiss Army Knife) with a blade less than 3 inches.

Long answer:

The primary legislation is s.139 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 which makes it unlawful to have in a public place:

(2) ... any article which has a blade or is sharply pointed except a folding pocketknife.

(3) .... [this includes] a folding pocketknife if the cutting edge of its blade exceeds 3 inches.

Subsection (4) gives the "good reason or lawful authority" general defence for possessing such an article which is complemented and supplemented by:

(5) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (4) above, it shall be a defence for a person charged with an offence under this section to prove that he had the article with him—

  • (a)for use at work;

  • (b)for religious reasons; or

  • (c)as part of any national costume.

This site gives some more information and identifies certain knives that are banned, and this site, under "legislation", lists semi-related offences.

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