"Martin" wrote
after"Bob Hobden"
I have read an article in the Spectator today 27th Nov 2004 where
someone
on her way to meet some Corporate Lawyers in London was arrested,
treated
rather unprofessionally, and locked up for hours for having a Swiss Army
Multitool in their briefcase which they were carrying in their car.
This commonplace tool has a locking blade and it made me wonder about
the
sharp kitchen knife (fixed blade) we use for cutting veg on our
allotment.
Now with our allotments being subject to constant raids by villains we
use a
Landrover 90 van and carry our tools, including the knife, with us.
We must therefore be open to arrest at any time whilst in the Landy,
which
also contains hammers, seceuters, various sharp gardening
tools.......and I
bet we aren't the only allotment folk that carry such things.
How the hell are we supposed to cut veg on our allotments if we can't
carry
a decent knife?

Seems like an over-reaction. The law forbids you to carry an offensive
weapon, and that can include anything from a hydrogen bomb to a bodkin,
but it's qualified buy "without lawful excuse" (OWTTE).

See
http://www.mikepower.squarespace.com/
--

Quite, so where does it leave allotment people like us, that carry a large
knife in our vehicle? Some say if you have reason to have it it's OK but
I've heard of a Thames Waterman that got badly beaten and arrested for
carrying a knife, and that's a tool of his trade, he only got off after his
union got involved.
We haven't got a union.

--
Regards
Bob
In Runnymede, 17 miles West of London