You are going on a 3 day trip and have to stay UK legal so what do you carry?

[Falstaff]

Not sure there is anything that I might want to do and can not. maybe poaching? - I don't go in for cutting wood/fires etc other than the odd bramble nettle or whippy branch in the way of my camp. I go for leave no trace, irrespective of whether I'm hostelling or camping. A leatherman always comes along, it's just the size that might vary depending on location/environment. Folding victorinox is an acceptable alternative.

 

[Paul_B]

SAK cyber tool. I wanted the 100 tools on a Swiss champ but never saw one in a shop near me nor had the money for one. I did however see a cyber tool at reidiculously low price, we are talking at huntsmen prices. So I got it. It is an amazingly useful tool and when fettling my bike I tend to reach for it rather than the proper tool same for DIY and other jobs. The tools on it just work better than some of my proper tools. I am thinking of Stanley pozidrive scredrivers here, they are useless compared to the equivalent in the cyber tool.

I do not light fires, except when car camping at a campsite that allows it and then I usually have an axe or BBQ charcoal for the BBQ stage and pre-prepared wood for the bushcraft tv stage (more likely TBH). I do not have a need for anything that might need to be justified if stopped. So I simply do not carry such a tool. I do not need to know the ins and outs of stop and search because I do not need to prevent it or defend what I do. It is simply so unlilely to give cause to police getting involved and even less likely to give them cause to take action against me. I may change my POV of course if some freaky event happens and police do take action against me.

Be positive here! Don't carry anything that is not UK legal or that you are certain can be fully justified and is defendable in a court of law. The legal system is probably not great or perfect but it does have a system in play that we can understand enough to avouid getting into trouble.

Simple question to everyone to prove my point. How many here have actually been stopped for carrying something they actually needed and had use for, then out of them how many have actually been prosecuted? There is too much negativity about our knife laws and too much of the kind of attitude about wanting the right to carry that 8" hunting knife when lets be honest here there are probably very few who have need of it at all. There will be hunters here but will they need a hunting knife for camping out in Scottish highlands in a hammock or bivvy?

 

[matarius777]

Always be careful when talking to the police in situations like this - they are trained to get you to incriminate yourself.

The laws for Stop and Search are that they need to suspect 1. a person matching your description of 2. carrying a particular object.

a reasonable belief to suspect that you may be carrying something illegal or something that can be used to to commit an offence and you are likely to do so.

So challenge them, & if they can't give you this information, refuse consent to the search.

So for example:

> "We suspect a tall man with a beard in the area of stabbing someone; you are a tall man with a beard with a bag where a knife could be concealed'

lawful search

> "we were just hanging about & we haven''t got a collar yet today and you Look Like The Type so we're going to search through all your stuff, and if we find something illegal we'll nab you for it - we'll also check your wallet to find your name - oooh i see you have a knife here, and something to smoke, and..."

unlawful search

You should always refuse a caution - a caution sounds like you got away easy, but it goes on your permanent record and they have to do zero work, they're counting on you being afraid of court that they don't have to do the work of proving you guilty.

If the police say - 'we suspect you of carrying a bladed weapon because you look like a bushcraft guy, and bushcraft guys tend to carry knives' - that's borderline IMO, so make them take you to court and prove that they have 'a reasonable individual suspicion' based on your appearance that you have or are about to commit a crime. Make them convince a judge that a bloke wearing trousers with more than the usual number of pockets is legal grounds for suspicion. If they know their case is on shakey grounds, they'll drop it.

A lot of the time, they are relying on you incriminating yourself or being intimidated. Know your rights, and make them do their job properly & within the law.

This is a very good point. One very sneaky thing some can do is get you to admit “well yes, I can see that my “*******” could make some people afraid, or it “could be to inflict violence on someone”…..etc. even though that is not your intention, you wouldn’t dream of doing that. In one case, someone was done for having an “offensive weapon”- a plastic sword! All because, under duress from repeated suggestion from the police, the person admitted that some people might it was real! Having said all that, most police, in my experience, are usually perfectly reasonable people.

 

[Paul_B]

Classic speeding stop is "do you know what speed you were doing?". Apparently designed to trap you into admitting a motoring offence not just a speeding offence. They can then do you for two charges and it helps their statistics a bit more.

I once got stopped, light was dull, the copper tried to smell my breath. IIRC she asked if I had been drinking (XMas campaign stops) because she could not get close to my breath to smell it. I think I asked her a question back and it stopped her going further.

I once worked at the same office as an engineer who had done a full pension shift in the police before becoming an engineer. I got loads of tales of police and how crafty/dodgy they can be. He was vehemently anti police despite doing a full career and getting the full pension. Not a single good word about his ex colleagues and didn't want anything to do with the police again. Hard as his wife was from a police family for generations back. It opened my eyes up to the realisation they are not 100% about protecting the public.