My commute has been getting a bit overgrown lately so on a couple of days I took a folding saw in my bag. One of the aldi ones which locks into place. If in the unlikely event of getting stopped and searched would I be in trouble? Are saws included in the lock knife category?

And while I guess attitude test and common sense mean I’d probably be ok, what’s a worst case scenario?

Also can I get into trouble for trimming other peoples’ bushes? Some of the tracks on my commute aren’t actually ROWs on my OS map.

can I get into trouble for trimming other peoples’ bushes?

🙂

IANAL but it is a tool and you are carrying for a specific purpose in the same way a carpet fitter might reasonably carry a stanley knife on his tool belt. So you should be fine.

What I can tell you is that the Sustrans Ranger handbooks talk about using various big pointy, sharp tools to clear trails: slasher, grasshook, bow saw, mattock and power tools. The main advice is be careful and make sure that bladed tools have suitable covers on them while transporting them.

So long as you can justify having it I doub’t a copper would find reason to confiscate it, especially if it’s sheathed and in a bag.

So long as you can justify having it I doub’t a copper would find reason to confiscate it, especially if it’s sheathed and in a bag.

kinda what I figured but as I said wondering about worst case, if a police man having a bad day decides to get technical and it wasn’t so much confiscation I was worried about, it was more getting huckled that bothered me.

IANAL but it is a tool and you are carrying for a specific purpose

agreed but aswell as the wilds of clifton country park I also ride through manchester city centre where I may have difficulty with that excuse.

A set of secateurs would remove any risk.

not as versatile tho.

If that’s the case I risk being told off by mr plod most days as I carry a combination lock knife and Stanley knife a lot. Admittedly not when going to the pub….

not as versatile tho.

i dunno, i reckon i could do some damage with a set of secateurs if the need arose…

Cutting other peoples shrubs back though may in theory get you into trouble even if it is on a ROW, it’s the land owners (laughable) responsibility.

Do you look white middle class? I’m sure you’ll be fine.

If that’s the case I risk being told off by mr plod most days as I carry a combination lock knife and Stanley knife a lot.

Likewise, I have a Rolson folding utility knife, for slicing open envelopes, pallet straps and wrapping, boxes, etc, which is damned useful for chopping off the damn great brambles that grow out into the path I ride along to work. Never ever see plods around during the day anyway.

i think with it sheathed and that explanation you will be fine

out of interest have you ever been stopped and searched on the bike?

if not why worry

I would take it – if you are really bothered go on weekday evening and trim the bush back

I too was concerned the one time I decided to do a bit of trail maintenance.

Although my tool of choice was a 15″ machete.. I think they’re banned.

I do not own said machete now, and would expect to be OK with a pruning saw.

out of interest have you ever been stopped and searched on the bike?

I remember the police stopping and searching me and all other cyclists and pedestrians crossing the Forth Bridge while the G8 summit was in town.

Funnily enough they didn’t bother with any of the cars.

Cos, y’know, those terrorist-types use “saddle bombs” all the time, but whoever heard of a “car bomb” eh?

It’s my main tool of choice as it can do so much. I think you will be ok I doubt you would even be stopped and searched unless you are in a urban area anyway.

out of interest have you ever been stopped and searched on the bike?

yep, tho admittedly not on the way to work.

Cutting other peoples shrubs back though may in theory get you into trouble even if it is on a ROW

i thought (from threads on here) you could “clear” a row aslong as you don’t take the stuff away.

I think you will be ok I doubt you would even be stopped and searched unless you are in a urban area anyway.

as I said I do go through very urban areas aswell

Always worries me with my electric powered chainsaw.

A screwdriver is not a bladed article but a butter knife is! What the courts will make of a ‘saw blade’ is up for grabs but I’d be arguing ‘good reason’ regardless

Every user of a highway/right of way has a common law right to abate an obstruction or nuisance in their path as a matter of “self-help”

Taylor v Whitehead 1781 also gives you a right to divert round an obstructed path – “Highways are governed by a different principle. They are for the public service, and if the usual tract is impassable, it is for the general good that people should be entitled to pass in another line”

When I’m breaking-and-gardening I don’t really worry about the folding saw, I think it’s the brush-hook that’ll get all the attention.

I remember the police stopping and searching me and all other cyclists and pedestrians crossing the Forth Bridge while the G8 summit was in town.

I got asked what was in my car while at Broxden services when tath was on.

I had well installs in the back, can see how it looked suspicious, 1m sections of black pipe, screw threaded at each end and slotted along the length..

When I opened the boot the officers stepped back in the ‘ready to draw firearms’ way. I was quite nervous at that.

They were fine when I told them what they actually were..and that they weren’t part of a stripped down supergun.

I carry a folding pruning saw in my cycle pack. The type that has a blade like the ones on a swiss army knife but only much bigger in size. They fly through small trees and branches. We seem to get loads falling over the trails in Cardiff. I dont think you will have any problems with the law as you have a genuinne reason for carrying it. I use mine on farm land or in the middle of woods etc and would not use it on to trim other peoples bushes. You are asking for trouble there. I always thought that permission had to be obtained to carry out any work on trees in city centres. It makes sense to protect them. I dont think the council would like you cutting there bushes or any private land owner for that matter. Do you plan to use it in the city/built up area?

I often have a 300mm Silky Gomtaro in my Camelback. Never even thought about plod, but often thought about meeting up with Stikkkman after sunset 😈

Do you plan to use it in the city/built up area?

nope, just on the overgrown bits of the fps/BWs towpaths and other unmarked tracks between land/business premises*, but I still have to cross urban areas with the saw in my bag.

The stuff I’m pruning will mostly be growing wild on council land (I’m not lopping down some home-owners overhanging tree), brambles or nettles and other stuff that explodes into life in summer, occasionally storm damaged tree branches blocking the trail, what the implications of that are, I’ve no idea.

*eg between industrial units out of town, not between topshop and macdonalds.

You can cut down any overhanging vegetation back to the boundary as long as you return the off-cuts to the owner.

(True fact, the details might be slightly different but the premise is the same.)

After todays ride I really want to make a battery powered strimmer

After todays ride I really want to make a battery powered strimmer

Pedal-powwered, surely? Or, even better, The Cleaner:

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r85sWHNbd_Y[/video]

Opinel do their little wooden-handled pocket knives with a saw blade, about £20, I think. would be ideal for trail stuff, as it’ll fit in a trouser pocket.
(reminder to self: get onto interwebz, order Opinel pocket saw…) 😀

whilst an OK looking bit of kit it’s not really going to help me if I get stopped.

And it’s 5 times as expensive and only 2/3 size of the aldi one, I know size isnt everything but….does look a bit titchy 🙂

“todays ride I really want to make a battery powered strimmer”

Buying one if these tomorrow. No other buggers maintain trails around here. DIY.

It’s a saw not a knife.

No danger whatsoever of plod arresting you for possession of this.

And why would you even be stopped?

Funniest thing I had with the police was walking over a bridge to the other side of the river with chainsaw in one hand and an axe in the other was one copper laughing and saying “I hope the bloke who up set you is a fast runner” 🙂

It’s a saw not a knife.

No danger whatsoever of plod arresting you for possession of this.

Interestingly – that makes saws a growingly popular MO for the bad people as rather than hide a knife you can carry a saw in plain view. I was abducted and robbed a few years ago by a guy armed with a panel saw (a working class saw rather than a poncy middle class folding one 🙂 ). I was unharmed bar having my belongings cut out of my clothes, in the same week one guy was killed and another mutilated in similar circumstances.

I hardly think it would ever be an issue as you’re obviously not a wee radge ned out on a buckfast fuelled rampage, for comparison i often carry a combination of the following hanging off my rucksack or tool belt on the way to my trails for a clearing session, i can’t imagine any situation where the police would ever consider i was a threat or would take issue with me carrying them – if they did i’d tell them to **** off and stop taking the piss, with humour in my voice obviously.

330mm of razor sharp Silky Zubat

Stihl bush hook, razor sharp enough to shave the hairs from my arm so carried in a sheath

2ft Stihl felling axe, very sharp and keen edge so has a leather head cover

And a cheap weed slasher/whacker as above but it’s rather shite and very flimsy so my mate who’s a blacksmith is forging me a similar item out of decent quality steel – should be picking it up this week.

I like my trail tools………..sad eh?

can’t imagine any situation where the police would ever consider i was a threat or would take issue with me carrying them – if they did i’d tell them to **** off and stop taking the piss, with humour in my voice..

and a Tazer in your chest!

I’m hardly gonna meet the police where i stay (galloway), and even if i did they wouldn’t take the slightest interest in what tools i am carrying. Perhaps it would be a different matter if i stayed in that overcrowded weird place south of the border but up here it’s deserted, an oft quoted fact of mine but more folk live/work in 1 sq mile of london than live in the entire 2500 sq miles of Dumfries & Galloway.