nitram17 wrote:

Context is the key and its the police officer who should be using discretion. .

Discretion goes with common sense and unfortunately common sense is not so common these days.

Personally I have carried a knife of some description on me since I got my first SAK at sixteen and there have been only a handful of days that I have not had a knife on me.I can remember pre 9/11 days returning from Cyprus and getting stopped at security with my Leatherman Wave and after some chat between the security guys I was asked if they could use it to tighten some screws on the X-ray belt

HK07 wrote:

Not UK law, but I love telling this true story.

A family friend, an old boy now and ex US army, was travelling by plane to see his daughter on a domestic flight in the States just post 911, when he turned up at baggage check in he was asked all the usual questions about packing bags etc and then asked the new question; "was he carrying any type of knife", which was normal pre 911.

He was carrying the same pocket knife he had had for many many years, which he was very attached to, here he had two options hand over his knife that had sentimental value or miss his flight. He asked for a moment to think and backed away from the desk.

Using his brain he found in the airport a planter with a small indoor tree in it, knowing he was going to lose his knife if he jumped on the plane he buried the knife deep in the soil around the base of the planter, checked in his bags, jumped on the plane and visited his daughter.

Upon his return he retraced his steps to check-in, found the tree, dug up his knife and went home.

The power of lateral thinking and beating the rules - I love it.