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Hello,
I had an issue happen the other day that left me somewhat confused, suspicious and not to mention concerned.
I had a breakdown on a major motorway while driving with my family. We called the emergency services to let them know, as we broke down in a live line with no hard shoulder. It was also in the middle of roadworks.
The traffic police soon came out, but also accompanied by a regular police car. They asked me if my car had a towing eye, and I said I'd look in the manual. While I was talking to the traffic cop, the regular copper decided to have a poke around in my vehicle. He opened the doors, had a look around and made a big deal about a camping knife I had in the bottom of the door.
I explained we'd just been out in the woods, I use that for cutting branches, bushcraft, digging up plants as well as cutting up food etc.. We're not from the UK, this is pretty common for us European types. I didn't clean the car entirely out as we'd just been out on this type of trip and were in fact on our way to stay with friends in the north of England. He made a big deal about the knife being illegal, not believing me about camping/bushcraft (ignoring the compass and other things in the car...) and accusing me of being some sort of gang member. I'm a middle-aged computer geek, and I was travelling with my partner and our two small kids. Not the gang banging type.
Anyway... his partner talked him down and he said he wasn't going to arrest me (whew... no joke) and was simply going to seize the knife. Fair enough. I didn't know it was illegal to have something like that and I'd rather not be on the wrong side of the law. He had me sign something electronic on his phone, the text was something along the lines of <my name> from <my address> license number <my lic no.> voluntary surrenders knife etc. I asked what this was, if I was going to have a record or something, and the cop got angry and shouty again, how he should really be arresting me.
Does anyone have an idea what I signed? Could there be any fallout from this? Did he have to let me know why he was having a poke around in my car? We're I'm from - the police have to be very clear about their actions, as there has been a lot of abuse of power in the past.
I didn't get any receipt, or paperwork, or anything whatsoever.
Like I said - I'm a law abiding person, the cop even asked me if I have points on my license (no) or a record (no). I have no desire to have anything illegal, so if he wants to seize the knife, fine with me. I just don't want any trouble.
I didn't think it was very professional to scream and yell at me in front of my family and threaten to arrest me, but in the end I'm much happier not being arrested.
I had an issue happen the other day that left me somewhat confused, suspicious and not to mention concerned.
I had a breakdown on a major motorway while driving with my family. We called the emergency services to let them know, as we broke down in a live line with no hard shoulder. It was also in the middle of roadworks.
The traffic police soon came out, but also accompanied by a regular police car. They asked me if my car had a towing eye, and I said I'd look in the manual. While I was talking to the traffic cop, the regular copper decided to have a poke around in my vehicle. He opened the doors, had a look around and made a big deal about a camping knife I had in the bottom of the door.
I explained we'd just been out in the woods, I use that for cutting branches, bushcraft, digging up plants as well as cutting up food etc.. We're not from the UK, this is pretty common for us European types. I didn't clean the car entirely out as we'd just been out on this type of trip and were in fact on our way to stay with friends in the north of England. He made a big deal about the knife being illegal, not believing me about camping/bushcraft (ignoring the compass and other things in the car...) and accusing me of being some sort of gang member. I'm a middle-aged computer geek, and I was travelling with my partner and our two small kids. Not the gang banging type.
Anyway... his partner talked him down and he said he wasn't going to arrest me (whew... no joke) and was simply going to seize the knife. Fair enough. I didn't know it was illegal to have something like that and I'd rather not be on the wrong side of the law. He had me sign something electronic on his phone, the text was something along the lines of <my name> from <my address> license number <my lic no.> voluntary surrenders knife etc. I asked what this was, if I was going to have a record or something, and the cop got angry and shouty again, how he should really be arresting me.
Does anyone have an idea what I signed? Could there be any fallout from this? Did he have to let me know why he was having a poke around in my car? We're I'm from - the police have to be very clear about their actions, as there has been a lot of abuse of power in the past.
I didn't get any receipt, or paperwork, or anything whatsoever.
Like I said - I'm a law abiding person, the cop even asked me if I have points on my license (no) or a record (no). I have no desire to have anything illegal, so if he wants to seize the knife, fine with me. I just don't want any trouble.
I didn't think it was very professional to scream and yell at me in front of my family and threaten to arrest me, but in the end I'm much happier not being arrested.
I'm no specialist on these things but will tag 
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