They wouldn’t care about the screwdriver on a multi-tool, why mess with the driver when there’s a blade next to it? Screwdrivers are charged however when they are carried as a weapon on their own. It just gives the police options.
I don’t like the folding knife exception. I think the Court of Appeal took a wrong step when it decided that a folding knife that locks is no longer a folding knife. Locking blades are actually safer than free folding ones.
There is a bit of confusion being caused by terms here, to me a multi-tool is a leather man or a gerber type, it has a saw and knife with a locking blade as well as screwdrivers, pliers etc. The OP talked about a multi-tool without a locking blade, in my eyes that’s a Swiss Army knife of knockoff which has a crappy pen knife, corkscrew, nail file and thing for getting stones out of horses hooves.
TBH it all seems to be a bit confused just like anything pertaining to legalese, it depends on the weather, what side of bed someone got out of bed etc, it’s never definitive.
The whole area if blades/pointy things is a mess. I don’t know why for instance someone under 16 can’t possess or buy a knife, even to the point of dinner table knives, when as it seems from the incidents the people are over 16. Won’t stop people getting stabbed, but that’s neither here or there. Just like the laws around gun ownership hasn’t prevented people getting shot.
I have remembered people buying flick combs and removing the combs, leaving the metal bit that could be used for other reasons. Don’t if they are still around.
There are thousands of stabbings a year in London alone carried out by Teenagers under 16, up until 2 years ago Steak/Kitchen Knives were the weapon of choice hence why kids can’t buy them. There had been a tendancy (which you can see on Police Social Media) recently for these kids to be carrying much larger knives which they can buy online. (You can get what’s advertised as movie props for around £40 which are actually full on Combat knifes).
What’s the stated case that Leathermams are legal to carry?
The only stated case I can find is the one that states a knife with a locking blade is not a folding pocket knife.
Leathermans lock, therefore if the blade is longer than 7.62cm, then Harris v DPP applies and you need a good reason to carry them. (GOOD REASON, not Lawful Excuse for bladed articles.)
I am not aware of any case featuring a Leatherman which exempts them from that one.
Surely the Harris case says that if the blade locks it’s not a folding pocket knife, if it’s not a folding pocket knife then blade length doesn’t apply anyway.
So if it has a 1” blade and locks then it’s not a folding pocket knife and you need a reason to have it.
Most leathermans don’t lock as far as I know - my small one certainly doesn’t.
If I sharpen the edge of my screwdriver, I wonder if I could argue that it’s now a knife and thus legal?
Only if your screwdriver folds…
I thought Letgermen generally locked? My work one does, although i tend to use a Gerber. Maybe they have stopped locking them to get round the legislation.
My screwdriver does fold, that was the point!
Yes, exactly. But I don’t think that was what the statute was meant to prevent, the Court of Appeal decided subsequently that as soon as the knife locks, it ceases to be a folding knife. (It’s a legal fiction in some ways.) And therefore locking knives now need good reasons to be carried.
It could be argued that lock knives were always intended to be banned , why would you ban a screwdriver but not a knife.
My understanding is that the authors of the law just did not live in the modern day and felt people needed penknives to cut up their apples and whittle sticks.
Screwdrivers don’t come under the same offence. They aren’t bladed articles, but they could be offensive weapons in the right circumstances. They are not bladed articles, put simply, because they don’t have blades.
https://www.cps.gov.uk/legal-guidance/offensive-weapons-knives-bladed-and-pointed-articles
This issue was debated when the legislation was originally drafted, a chap appealed in 1998 on the basis that the debates made clear that locking knives under 3 inches had not been intended to have been caught by the ban. However, the Court of Appeal held that the debate wasn’t clear enough for it to change their earlier definition:
Anyway, back to the OP. We should stay well away from any policy on the issue. The Law is bad enough already!
The Davis case confirmed that a screwdriver is not a blade, it does not mean that it cannot he a pointed article and therefore fall foul of the legislation. (I believe it was already agreed at the original trial that the screwdriver in question was not sharply pointed). It become a point to prove for the prosecution in any trial that the screwdriver in question is sharply pointed, if they can’t do that then their is No Reasonable Prospect of Comviction and therefore it all gets binned. I can tell you from personal experience that people can and do get charged & convicted for Points & Blades where the article is a Screwdriver.
But meandering in the direction of the original question, no we don’t have a corps policy but as an OC I would definitely have something tos at If cadets started turning up with Multi-Tools. If a cadet needs a tool the Squadron will provide it.
I have literally no idea how to moderate this topic.
I think that most points have been covered. There’s some sharp responses here with cutting-edge advice that it would be good for everyone to take away with them instead of cork-screwing around it.
My only question would be:
If it’s illegal for a person to have a screwdriver in their possession, what about a person driving a car that has screws in his\her possession?..
Or, alternately, why did kamikaze pilots wear helmets?..
Official policy is that there isn’t one (that any of us geniuses can think of).
Case closed - NEXT!
Were any of them folding ones on multi-tool though?
Screwdriver no, corkscrew yes.
But I can’t remember ever coming accross a multi-tool with a non-locking blade. So if someone were to be dealt with for that then the knife would be the issue.