Can you carry a knife when camping in the UK?

Yes, but only one kind of knife goes with you without a reason. That is a folding knife that does not lock, with a cutting edge of 3 inches (7.62 cm) or less. Any other blade, including a lock knife, a longer folder or a fixed-blade bushcraft knife, is an offence in a public place unless you can prove a good reason. In Scotland the words are "reasonable excuse". Camping is not written into either law, but police guidance does treat cooking on a backpacking trip as the kind of reason that counts.

The words the law turns on#

Five terms decide every case on this page, and each means something narrower in law than in everyday speech.

Folding pocketknife. A knife whose blade folds into the handle at any time, with no lock to release. It is the one knife the law leaves out: section 139(2) covers "any article which has a blade or is sharply pointed except a folding pocketknife".

Cutting edge. The length that has to be 3 inches or less. West Yorkshire Police's FAQ, written by the Police National Legal Database, says the courts have held that "the whole length of the side of the blade is to be included". So an unsharpened stretch near the handle still counts.

Lock knife. A folding knife whose blade, in the FAQ's words, "cannot be closed without that mechanism being released". The CPS says a lock knife is not a folding pocketknife, "because it is not immediately foldable at all times", so blade length makes no difference.

Public place. Section 139(7) says this includes "any place to which at the material time the public have or are permitted access, whether on payment or otherwise". Paying for a pitch does not make a campsite private. The CPS treats a place as private only when access is limited to a particular class of people, such as a householder's family and friends. Scotland goes further: section 47(4) of the 1995 Act makes a public place "any place other than" a home, a school or a prison, so a wild camp falls inside it.

Has with him. The CPS says the phrase covers a weapon "nearby, under the defendant's control, or immediately accessible", and gives two examples: "under a car seat, or in a bag next to them". So a knife in your rucksack is with you.

The rules in each part of the UK#

Camping appears in none of these Acts, though each lists three examples of a defence: use at work, religious reasons and national costume. Section 139(5) says those apply "without prejudice to the generality" of the main defence, and section 49(5) says the same. So they are a starting list, not the whole of it. Northern Ireland has its own version of section 139, with the same exception and the same defence. Only the penalty differs: up to 12 months summary, or 4 years on indictment.

Is camping a good reason to carry a knife?#

It can be. No Act or court ruling read for this page settles it, but police guidance says so. The West Yorkshire Police FAQ says the reason "will have to be genuine", then gives an example: "someone back packing across the Lake District may reasonably be expected to have a knife for the preparation of meals." It adds that a reason "will be far more difficult to justify on the streets of a city or town". That is guidance, not law, and a court decides each case on its facts. The Crown Prosecution Service guidance for England and Wales sets out how it weighs a claimed reason:

1. The burden is yours. Once the prosecution proves you had the knife in a public place, you must show the reason "on the balance of probabilities", which means more likely than not.
2. It is read narrowly. "It is not enough that the defendant asserts an innocent motive; the excuse must be objectively reasonable".
3. The evidence must back your account. Prosecutors weigh "the extent to which the evidence supports an account provided by the offender in interview or otherwise".
4. The reason must be live at the time. In Garry v CPS (2019), a plumber or electrician's item was found in the car's glovebox on a Saturday, when they were not working, and that "weakened the defence". The CPS reads the case as needing "an immediate connection" between the item and the work.
5. Forgetting is not a reason. "Forgetfulness alone cannot be a reasonable excuse", and it can count only rarely, joined with how the item came to be there.

So camping works as a reason when the knife is plainly part of a camping trip that is happening now. It fails when the trip ended last weekend, or when the knife is on your belt in a town centre on the way.

Which knife needs what#

The multi-tool row trips people up, because the FAQ says a multi-tool "incorporating a prohibited blade" can be an offence "even if there are other tools on the instrument", such as a screwdriver or a can opener. Judge the blade as if it were a knife on its own. The field repair kit guide treats a multi-tool as a repair item, but on the way to camp the blade is what the law sees.

The banned list is a different law: GOV.UK lists weapons that are illegal to own, sell or bring into the UK at all, so no camping reason helps.

Worked through: one knife, two weekends#

Take a walker heading from Leeds to a wild camp in the Lake District. Suppose they pack a sheathed fixed-blade bushcraft knife and a small folding knife with a 2.5 inch (6.4 cm) blade and no lock.

The small folder. No lock, and its whole blade side is 2.5 inches. Section 139 does not apply to it, so it needs no reason on the train, in the pub or at camp.

The fixed blade, outbound. It needs a good reason anywhere public, from Leeds station to the fell. Suppose it travels sheathed, at the bottom of the rucksack, under the stove, food and tent. Run that against the CPS tests, and the reason, cooking at camp, is the one the police FAQ names. The evidence fits it: everything around the knife is camping kit. And the trip is happening now, so the connection is live.

The next weekend. Now suppose the knife stays in the rucksack, and the rucksack goes into the car for a trip to the shops, six days after the trip ended. That is the Garry pattern: a tool with a real purpose, found when the purpose was not live. Forgetting it was there is no excuse, so the same knife, in the same bag, has gone from a strong defence to a weak one.

In Scotland. Move the trip to a wild camp in the Cairngorms. The test is now "reasonable excuse", and the walker must "show" it. The hill is a public place under section 47(4). The CPS guidance does not apply there, but the same facts are what make the excuse believable. The maximum rises to 12 months or 5 years.

How to carry a fixed blade to camp#

No law sets a way to pack a knife, and a knife in your bag is still with you. Packing makes your account easy to believe, and each step below follows from the CPS tests or the police FAQ.

1. Pack it, do not wear it. Keep it sheathed, deep in the rucksack or kitchen box, because the FAQ says a reason is "far more difficult to justify on the streets".
2. Keep it with the kit it serves. A knife packed with the stove, food and pots tells its own story. The camp kitchen kit guide sets out what a working kitchen holds.
3. Carry it only for the trip, then clear the car. Under Garry, a tool left in a vehicle after the job is a weak defence. If you keep a box of camping kit loaded between trips, as the car camping checklist suggests, take the knife out of it.
4. Choose the smaller tool if it does the job. For most camp cooking, a non-locking folder of 3 inches or less is enough, and it needs no reason at all. The CPS notes that, for work tools, prosecutors "may consider why other less dangerous tools were not used".

Check your own knife in two minutes#

You need a ruler marked in millimetres or sixteenths of an inch.

1. Test for a lock. Open the blade fully, then try to close it without pressing anything. If you must first press a button, push a liner or slide a catch, it is a lock knife. It needs a reason, however short the blade.
2. Find the cutting edge. Lay the open blade flat and measure along the sharp side of the blade, from where it leaves the handle to the tip. Include any blunt stretch near the handle, as the police FAQ says the whole side counts.
3. Compare with 7.62 cm. Three inches is 76.2 mm, so at 76 mm or under a non-locking folder needs no reason. Within a millimetre or two, treat the knife as over. A length printed on the box is not the legal figure unless it matches yours.
4. Check multi-tools blade by blade. Each blade gets its own lock test and its own measurement.

What this page does not cover#

This page covers carrying a blade in a public place in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, as the Acts read in November 2026. It does not cover the offences for schools and prisons, threatening someone, or the offensive weapons law. A knife carried "for self-defence" falls under that law. The CPS says a "constant or enduring threat (even where genuine)" is not a reasonable excuse. No source read for this page applies section 139 to axes, saws or tent pegs, so it does not rule on them. Train companies set conditions of their own; the train page shows how those ban some camping gear outright. The Republic of Ireland is not covered, and if you have already been charged, ask a solicitor.

What changed in 2026#

The CPS guidance quoted here was updated on 28 May 2026. The Crime and Policing Act 2026, per the Home Office factsheet of 30 September 2026, adds a new offence of having a knife "with the intention to use in unlawful violence", maximum seven years. It brings in photo ID checks on knives bought online, from which non-locking folders of 3 inches or less are exempt. legislation.gov.uk lists the new section 139AB among changes still to be applied to the 1988 Act, and no change to section 139. The 3 inch rule and the defence stand.

Separately, it is an offence to sell a knife to anyone under 18. In Scotland, 16 and 17 year olds may buy cutlery and kitchen knives. The carrying offence applies to "any person", so a teenager at camp is under the same rules as an adult. Camping with young children covers what else a family trip needs.

Common mistakes#

Calling a short lock knife a pocketknife. The CPS and the police FAQ both say length does not save it, and the whole side of the blade counts when you measure.

Thinking a paid campsite is private. Section 139(7) includes places the public may enter "whether on payment or otherwise". In Scotland, almost everywhere outside a home is a public place.

Leaving it in the car. The trip ends and the knife stays in the boot, sometimes for weeks. Then it is a tool with no live purpose, and forgetting does not count.

Calling it "for protection". A knife meant for injury, even in defence, is an offensive weapon in the CPS's terms. It also tells the officer the knife is not there for camping.

Frequently asked questions#

Is it legal to carry a knife when camping in the UK?#

A folding knife with no lock and a cutting edge of 3 inches (7.62 cm) or less needs no reason. Any other knife needs a good reason in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, or a reasonable excuse in Scotland, and you must prove it. Police guidance gives a backpacker preparing meals as a genuine example.

Can I take a fixed blade knife camping in the UK?#

Yes, if you have a good reason and can show it. Carrying a fixed blade in public without one is an offence. Police guidance gives a backpacker who needs a knife to cook as a genuine example. Pack it sheathed in your camping kit, carry it only for the trip, and take it out of the car afterwards.

Is a lock knife legal to carry in the UK?#

Not without a good reason, whatever the blade length. The CPS says a lock knife is not a folding pocketknife "because it is not immediately foldable at all times". So a 2 inch lock knife needs the same reason as a fixed blade. A camping trip can be that reason, judged on the facts.

How is a knife blade measured under UK law?#

By the cutting edge, which police guidance says is "the whole length of the side of the blade", not just the sharpened part. Measure along the sharp side from the handle to the tip. Three inches is 76.2 mm, and within a millimetre or two of that, treat the knife as over the limit.

Can you carry a knife when wild camping in Scotland?#

The same folding knife rule applies, and anything else needs a "reasonable excuse" that you must show. Scotland defines a public place as anywhere other than a home, a school or a prison, so a wild camp counts. The maximum penalty is 12 months, or 5 years on indictment.

Is a multi-tool legal to carry in the UK?#

It depends on the blade. Police guidance says a multi-tool with a prohibited blade can be an offence "even if there are other tools on the instrument". Judge the blade as a knife on its own. If it locks, or its cutting edge is over 3 inches, you need a good reason.