Knifes

[duncanmack]

Had an interesting experience last night prior to boarding the ferry at Plymouth.

Packed the car yourself, Sir? Yes.

All your own stuff Sir? Yes.

Carrying anything for anyone else Sir? No.

Any guns, ammunition, explosives munitions Sir? No.

Any knifes Sir? Yes.

OOoooooooooooh, can we see it Sir? Yes

Oh dear, you are carrying a banned offensive weapon in your car Sir.
No I'm not.

You are Sir, can I draw your attention to this notice while we phone Special Branch (I kid you not)?

I pointed out the "illegal to be in possession of without good cause" bit on the notice.

Adamant and the polis duly arrived.
Bit more sensible. When I point out that the car is full of boat stuff, especially quite a lot of rope and that constitutes "good cause" he says that under the circumstances he will not confiscate it and charge me, but will give it to the purser on the ferry, for transport in the ship's strong room and that I would be able to reclaim it from the Gare Maritime in Roscoff in the morning.
Which I duly did.
The French officer was a bit gobsmacked at the carry on, but laughed when I remarked that having reclaimed it I now could proceed with my plan to conquer the world......

The knife , BTW is 4" locking blade and blunt ended.

Crazy. The English polis did hold the view that the law was a bit daft. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

So be warned. If you fess up then lots of fun will ensue, but if you follow the advice from the ferry security people to say nought and then get the car searched and they find a knife you could be in deep trouble.

 

[Boat44]

So the 6inch pair of scissors is OK then? Or the marlin spike?

Goes withe the eborders thing. Idiots!

(Good story though, cheers!!)

 

[jerrytug]

Yes it`s all getting Monty Python, Duncan. I am facing a very long coach trip to the Med for a spring cruise because I need to carry knives,telecoms,flares etc and I react badly to these pathetic jobsworths in the front line against common sense. "So you have a problem with Security Sir?" "No only with stupidity you stroker" ...missed flight guaranteed. Also cavity searches.. "Would Sir lift his `person` please?" "No,lift it yourself" = longer delay at Harwich. Schermuly anyone?

 

[bazobeleza]

I was stopped for inspection with the 110 full of boat gear, daughter, and 2 dogs at dover. usual questions, inc 'any knifes, sir?

yes, I've some chefs knives in the back

Can we see them?

Yes they're under the bunk cushions, cases of dog food, suitcases........


Oh its ok sir, we're in a hurry today.


He then spent the next 15 minutes chatting about dogs, he bred yorkies and one of ours is... guess what... a yorkie. So much for the safety of the nation.


Monty Python doesn't cover it, more like Spike Milligan on speed.

 

[graham]

When asked same question at Plymouth I took a gamble that they wouldnt bother to unload 2 bikes and a ton of camping stuff to find my little knife in the toolbox.

The scenario that worries me more is dropping a knife into my coat pocket when out sailing then forgetting about it.

In the unlikely event of being stopped and searched then a court appearance and possible jail sentence could be the result.

Anyone relying on common sense prevailing may be dissapointed these days.

 

[duncanmack]

I was very good humoured during this incident despite some real jobsworth inanity, and being very tired and more irritable than usual /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
It did occur to me that if we all admitted having our knife/s and the good cause why we do then there will be a great deal of police time spent writing reports and giving the knifes to the ferry personell for "safe transport".
That being the case, we are complying with the law and perhaps if enough of us do it someone will realise what an arse they have made of it and do something about it.

I won't hold my breath though. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Alcyone]

We spent two hours arguing with customs in Sudan a few years back. One of our group, an army major, refused to take his leatherman off his belt. He seemed to think that flashing his British army badge would help.

It didn't.

 

[Robin]

Daft thing is that going from the UK with limitless regulations which could have got you into trouble, you were headed to France where guns and flick knives are on open sale. If they thought you were a terrorist why would they think you wouldn't buy something even more dangerous after you arrived? Daft rules for stupid people to enforce, the real villains are not caught by it, only the innocent also rans.

Nucking futs.

 

[Seagreen]

I have a certain incipient paranoia about my 6" deck-knife. It also has a nice spike and pliers (you know the type). I'm perfectly legal as long as its on the boat, but I may well be at full hazard of the Law - automatic arrest and custodial sentence- if I carry it home even in my bag in the boot of the car. There was a Guardian journalist this happened to. However, once I'm on my driveway, I'm perfectly legal.

Interestingly, trying to use a folding knife over 3" without some sort of locking mechanism, though complying with the criminal law, must surely contravene Health and Safety?

Catch 22
/forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

 

[bazobeleza]

It seems to me the whole knife thing is stems from this governments paranoia that the general public is not to be trusted with anything that can be construed as a weapon. All aided and abetted by the boys in blue.

First handguns, now knives, soon it will be an offence to walk down the street carrying a bottle in case you smash it and glass someone. Thats right we're all criminals and wannabe gun toting thugs now, all looking to visit mayhem and bloodshed on all we meet.

IMHO the govt and police are merely reflecting its own views on the populace, they're a bunch of crooks and thugs so therefore we must all be too. So sad.

 

[Twister_Ken]

Re: Knives

Not new. I had a Captain Currey sailing knife confiscated when flying back from a regatta in Guernsey, in the early 1980's.

----
edit. Spelling of knifes corrected!

 

[flaming]

I've told the story before about luckily meeting the one sensible cop in London on getting back late from sailing and wandering into brixton for food with a leatherman on my belt. I was quite fortunate that I was still wearing the t-shirt of a well known sailing firm, as it did back up my story!

 

[Seven Spades]

Re: Knives

I used to carry an IXL pen knife all over the world with me in my pocket. Through Gatwick airport ect without any problems. I was only ever stopped once, in Bangkok Airport on the way home from Australia I was asked to turn out my pocket when the metal detector sounded the official looked at my knife without taking it from my hand and waved me on.



Alas common sense is not very common.

 

[matelot]

[ QUOTE ]
It seems to me the whole knife thing is stems from this governments paranoia that the general public is not to be trusted with anything that can be construed as a weapon. All aided and abetted by the boys in blue.

[/ QUOTE ]

Not really. The media spot a cause - a few (and it is a few) feral kids / yobboes stabbing each other - and start to whip up public concern. Politicians asked "what are you doing about it?" and "nothing much" isnt politically acceptable answer. Neither is just letting Darwin apply. So they pass a law, any law, to get the Daily Wail etc off their backs. Just as they did with dangerous dogs, or handguns.

Politicians arent worried about knives or public safety cos the problem is minor. They are worried about publicity / re-election and a media campaign. And plod is incapable of applying the law with common sense and discrimination. In fact the one thing they are frightened of doing is discriminating between the likely and the unlikely so Grannie aged 80 is just as likely to be locked up as the gangsta rapper aged 20 and with attitude.

 

[boatmike]

You dont need to get on a ferry.
My other sport is "Field Archery" which entails shooting (on private ground usually) around woods at a course of targets set at varied distances. Usually most archers carry a fairly robust knife because a miss invariably means digging a "message from Robin" out of a tree! I was recently stopped and asked what I had in the boot. My answer was a bow, several arrows, knife and various other stuff. The knife was in a locked container. "Thats an offensive weapon" said the plod. "Only if used in an offensive way" said I "and I have a good reason for having it." Long argument and I was allowed to continue but it never dawned on the jobsworth that the bow and arrows were a damn sight more dangerous!

 

[Cliveshep]

This country has gone insane, but standard airport security is even worse. Last year we went to HK and the Phils, part of the loot we took out was our "medicine bag", Paracetamol, asprin, adhesive plasters, Piriton, antiseptic creams and also one of those little St John Ambulance 1st aid kits. Inside the St John kit was a pair of round nose, i.e. blunt, scissors with 30mm blades. We got on at Heathrow ok but had to change aircraft at Frankfurt who went through the whole procedure all over again even though we had just got off the plane from H/row and were still airside in transit. Pounced on by Gestapo at once who made a beeline for the St John pouch and confiscated the scissors. Total muckin fadness!

 

[ean_p]

And then they sit you down on the plane and put a meal in front of you and hand you a rather nice stainless knife, fork and spoon eh !

 

[Robin]

Only in the posh bit though because everyone knows terrorists always fly cattle class.

 

[Heckler]

Really!!
It takes a certain mind set to write utter garbage like you have just done, typical of the chattering class guardianista, another 2 killed in London yesterday with knives so its not the Daily Mail thats whipping up hysteria, its there. However making rules like they have done is again typical of our government, instead of tackling the problem, which is the guardianistas hate of the family unit and its liberal mindset that wont allow it to say what is the damned truth! Young black (who appear to be the worst knife offenders) boys need a stable home with a father figure in their formative years and hey before you do the liberal chant of racist, just be aware that I used to be the Member for Equalities for a County Council and as part of my duties used to attend seminars where amongst others, Sir Trevor Philips used to be the key note speaker. His thrust was that young black boys are under achievers and that the breakdown in families did not help.
Stu

 

[longjohnsilver]

This is supposed to be a sailing forum. Could you please keep posts like this for the lounge where I won't read them (cos I don't go there). Same applies to any other non sailing related topics so please don't take this in any way personally, not intended that way.