Knife laws in London and Paris?

I'm traveling to London and Paris next month. I have heard that UK is strict on knives but haven't seen anything official. Anybody know if my Leatherman Wave is Ok for those cities if not carried openly?

Do not carry a Leatherman Wave in UK where anyone is going to see it. In fact, don't carry any knife in the UK where anyone can see it.

If they don't know it's there, then it doesn't exist.

If you have to get searched or go through a detector, you will lose your knife if they find it. You may also be incarcerated, or otherwise hassled.

That is a gen purp rule of thumb. There will be exceptions. I wouldn't want to bet my Wave on knowing when and where.

I wouldn't even bother carrying any knife traveling. You can pick up one locally once there and throw it away or mail it back when leaving. It's not worth loosing a knife to any of these countries. You can get knives in 99.99% of the world in my opinion and there so readily available, just don't get caught with them on you. Keep a low profile and play the dumb innocent tourist and you'll be fine.

Or, depending on the length of travel you could look at it like a travel expense. Sure, it sucks to lose a nice tool but it also helps to have a knife/tool you're familiar with to help avoid injury which is more likely if using some non-locking, cheapo replacement (if you can find one). I think SAK's are a good choice as they're generally less tacticool looking and are pretty much everywhere.

Good point, I just wouldn't recommend carrying anything you don't mind losing.

Well I was just in the UK in july, and they were selling leatherman fuses and leatherman folders in all the sporting and camping goods stores I went into.

Presumably they wouldn't be selling illegal tools.

My understanding, based on what people who have been there say, is that the prohibitions on knives in the UK and France are being wildly exaggerated. A lot of the legal issues are a matter of context.

Any adult can buy a large kitchen/chef's knife or utility knives at any number of stores. These can amount to virtual short swords in size. You can buy it and carry it home and use it in and around your home for the usual, perfectly legitimate, purposes. Tradesmen are not prohibited in keeping suitable knives for work. Gardeners and groundskeepers can buy, keep and use large knives, machetes and other large edged tools.

On the other hand if your observed carrying it openly on the streets or a subway your going to have some explaining to do. then again if the knife is part of a roll of chef's knives, was kept in their roll and your employed as a chef your not likely to have any problem explaining and being allowed to go on your way. Similarly if the knife is part of a tool kit you use in you trade and you haven't been showing it around your also unlikely to have any problems beyond just answering a few easy questions.

As I understand it even if you have no particular use a pen knife of small SAK generally gets a pass as long as the blades don't lock. And even then your not likely to be questioned by police if you keep it in your pocket.

I was told that an original Leatherman with a non-locking blade is likely to get a pass even though the blade length is a bit long. A judgment call by the police who are likely to give a pass to a working stiff with no record if he works with his hands. But if you fit the description of a thug, drunk or suspicious person they are more likely to confiscate the knife.

The Leatherman Wave wouldn't be legal in London as it has a locking blade. The general rules are 1) no locking folding blades, 2) no folding blades over 3 inches in length and 3) no fixed blades of any length.

Leatherman Waves are expensive and I wouldn't want to risk it being confiscated at the airport or possibly at a railway or tube station. I believe there are also some metal scanners now being introduced on main line railway stations and London underground tube stations.

If you do need a knife in London then a basic non locking SAK will be fine as long as the main blade is less than 3 inches in length. It would be prudent not to display any knife in public (even a legal SAK) unless absolutely necessary.

Hi Guys,

Being a Brit and living in Paris I can tell you that you'd have a harder time in France than you will in the UK.

The coppers in the UK, and when I say UK I mean anywhere outside London, which is a universe unto itself (the same can be said for Paris). The coppers will usually give you the benefit of doubt. Further if you can give them a good enough reason, ie your a computer technician, repairman, mechanic etc and need this tool, everyone knows Leathermans are ideal for such jobs. Then more often than not they will let it pass. Inside London, well simply put I avoid the place like a plague infested open sewer.

In Paris just don't let the Gendarmes see you with one, not even carrying one on a belt, you'll just be giving them the excuse to cart you off somewhere. This is doubly so on the metro system where there are regular patrols of transport Police.

Prudent thing to do is leave the leatherman at home, take a SAK that wouldn't hurt if it is confiscated.

if you want to carry a multitool you could get the Knifeless Fuse. it's got all the usual tools, just no knife blade, and carry and carry a simple SAK in addition. that way even if your knife gets confiscated, you're not left completely unprepared. and a basic SAK like the Spartan is inexpensive enough(usually less than $20) that it wouldn't be a huge loss.

London with its miserable people, dirty littered streets, with a 3rd world economy public transportation system and its burgening rise in pointless petty crime. Poverty mixed within ostentatious exhibits of wealth by a few. A grubby Monopoly board studded with the occasional historic tourist sights, where you will be lucky to actually find an Englishman (and if you did come across one will probably be trying to rip you off in his black Taxi cab). With its repetative shopping outlets, non existance customer service and overpriced goods. Hmm no wonder the last time I was there was over 8 years ago. Never really had the inclination to go back and even if I did I wouldn't want to spend more than a weekend there. The British Museum was worth a visit though. Heathrow is appaling and a national disgrace.

But then again some 'plague infested open sewers' can be interesting places to visit if only for a short period of time.

What about the French Opinel Knives?

Most have sort of a locking mechanism.

I wonder why our resident UK expert, Mr. Sock, hasn't been heard from on this???

Opinel Knives are accepted because there are very French, and associated with cutting cheese and drinking wine. Everyone overhere has one in the knife drawer, it's no more offensive than cutlery, and considered as such.

Because he is doing time for carrying a knife?

Not for a first offence, unless he was found with multiple knives?

That reminds me of Sadr City. We managed to put two sewer lines back in service so the raw sewage wasn't flowing down the street, and each line only cost us about $50 million each, thanks to the security overruns.

It was interesting for about 5 minutes.

Well since you asked OBG :-)
A knife with a blade more than 3 inches in length is illegal. A knife with a locking blade is illegal.
It is illegal to carry a weapon. If you admit to the police 'yes i suppose i would use my leatherman (or paper, or umbrella or anything) you just admitted to a crime. Intent to use it as a weapon makes it a weapon.
But we have had a few cases of people being arrested with leathermans and being found innocent in court.
No british policeman will arrest a tourist who doesn't know the law (especially an american who we love) and no court would convict. You'd have to be unlucky to have it confiscated. That is the worst than could happen.
The Sock

If I may add to that...

That is, illegal to carry in public without a good reason. They are legal to own and use at home, and they are legal in public if, eg, you need it for your job, or if you just bought it and are carrying it home, or if you are travelling to or from the airport. This is mostly common sense and honesty.

(A locked car boot is technically not a private place, but no-one is likely to look in it anyway.)

I think you missed out the words "self defence". Carrying a blade for self-defence is a crime. Self-defence is not a "good reason". This may be a surprising point for Americans.

Basically you have to convince the court it's carried as a tool, not a weapon.

Be aware that the owner of a particular establishment may impose their own rules, which may be stricter than the law. For example, The London Eye has a reputation for taking even legal blades off customers before they go on the ride. (The ride involves being sealed in a bubble with other customers high above the ground, and I guess they are terrified of a knife-fight breaking out in such circumstances.)

Apart from places like that, you are unlikely to get searched. Police need "reasonable suspicion" to search you. However, if you get arrested for something else, they'll probably take sharps (and cell phone) off you then.

You are right I did forget to put the words 'for self defense' in. Coppers are trained to try and persaude people to admit it's for that: 'are you really saying if a gang came at you with a knives you wouldn't try and even the odds by using this?' no matter how unbelievable it is; swear blind you never would.
Course you could ask him 'well, would you?' if he's holding it and says 'yes' you can then execute a citizens arrest. he just admitted to a crime :-)

The rest of what you said; ok to carry for work; on the way from the shops etc I took as going without saying.
The Sock