That sounds like a damn good policy. Please, can you give us any details and where to get it from?
Just a link to website will be fine!
Ok Here goes
http://www.sacs.org.uk/
Standard membership is around £30, but form a group and you can get it cheaper.
Any questions just PM me
I asked Ian Clarke (director) what would happen if I was stopped whilst going shooting and found with a knife
His reply was
Firstly, of course your SACS insurance will cover you - we would provide an expert solicitor or QC to defend you at no cost to you.
He then went on to say
As you know, we have been caught up in knee-jerk political stuff with carrying knives - the law is designed (badly) to affect knife-carrying thugs in shopping centres, not legitimate users.
The point we all need to be careful about is that the law makes it an offence to carry a knife in a public place without good reason or excuse.
It is a perfectly good reason or excuse to have a knife in your possession for the purpose of gralloching etc. but ONLY when you are going to be using it. The significance of this is that if you are going out stalking, it is reasonable to have the knife with you from the point you leave the house to the moment you get home - that would include the travelling to and from, even if you happen to stop off at a shop on the way, but NOT at other times.
There has already been a case where someone kept a knife in their shooting jacket pocket, and kept the jacket permanently in the boot of their car - as so many of us would. Under Scots law at least, and I believe that this would apply elsewhere too, something in a car in a public place is itself in a public place, and they were convicted.
The Sheriff who tried the case said that it was stupid, but he had no option but to find the accused guilty because the fact that he used the knife regularly was not a reason or excuse for having the knife with him except when he was actually engaged in the activity for which he needed the knife.
When this happened, I got our legal advisor to do an article for the magazine to alert our members - I've copied the text below. i f there's anything else i can do, just let me know.
Best regards
Ian
The other topic I have been asked to cover is the law (in Scotland) regarding carrying of knives.
The law was, for 40 years, governed by the Prevention of Crime Act 1953(c14) which extends, as it is still in force, to England, Wales and Scotland but does not extend to Northern Ireland. It is a commendably brief Act and is to the effect that any person who has with him without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, (the proof whereof shall lie on him) in a public place any offensive weapon shall be guilty of an offence.
"Offensive weapon" is helpfully defined as "any article made or adapted for use for causing injury to a person or intended by the person having it with him for such use by him".
"Public place" is defined as any highway and any other premises or place to which at the material time the public have or are permitted to have access whether on payment or otherwise. You should be particularly aware that if a car or other vehicle, whether that vehicle is moving or stationary, locked or not, is "in a public place", any items such as knives and firearms inside the vehicle are also "in a public place".
The relevance of this Act to the carrying of knives is that some knives will come into the category of made for causing injury (e.g. bayonet, stiletto, flick, sword etc.,) and all other knives may come under one or other of the remaining two categories, depending on the circumstances.
Difficulties arose over the years in enforcing the Act, and eventually the Carrying of Knives etc. (Scotland) Act 1993 (c13. was passed. Under the terms of this Act, it is a criminal offence to have with you in a public place any article which has a blade or is sharply pointed. There are defences, slightly different from the earlier Act, namely "good reason or lawful authority" and some examples of what would be considered good reason are given in the Act. The definition of "public place" has lost the words any highway, as "highway" is a peculiarly English legal concept.
There is an exception in the Act for a folding pocket knife if the cutting edge of its blade does not exceed 3 inches". Care must be taken with this definition, as it has been interpreted by the Court as excluding a lock knife, whatever the size of its blade, although, if the lock is broken on a knife which was originally a lock knife, so that it can be closed just by pressing on the back of the blade, it may, subject to the cutting edge measurement, be considered to be a folding pocket knife - the test is whether you can close it by one action of pressing on the back of the blade.
There is one knife which may be worth mentioning as being arguably within the definition of a folding pocket knife as mentioned above, although capable of being locked open. Having cut myself on a folding knife more than once, I obtained an "Opinel" which has a collar which you can rotate when the knife is open, but which can be opened and closed without engaging the lock mechanism.
For reasons unknown to me, it was found necessary to further legislate on the matter, and so we have the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995(c.39) Sections 47 and 49 of this Act seem to me to merely restate the law as it exists both in relation to offensive weapons (S.47) and knives(S.49).
Remember its not a licence to be flippant, but you will be defended if you are within the law and maliciously or illegal prosecuted.
Will also cover all your field sport activities too, even yer dog if he runs into the road and causes a crunch.
Its the best one out there and one of the cheapest too, I think its the only one that gives the immediate £100k legal protection, BASC certainly does not.
Please note that some of the points made out by the barrister apply to Scotland, buy I don't think that there is that much difference in the general law.