• iconNews
  • videos
  • entertainment
  • Home
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • Australia
    • Ireland
    • World News
    • Weird News
    • Viral News
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Science
    • True Crime
    • Travel
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV & Film
    • Netflix
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • TikTok
  • LAD Originals
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • Lad Files
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Extinct
    • Citizen Reef
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube

LAD Entertainment

YouTube

LAD Stories

Submit Your Content
US tourist arrested on beach in UK 'because he didn’t know he was breaking British law’

Home> News> UK News

Published 14:09 10 Apr 2025 GMT+1

US tourist arrested on beach in UK 'because he didn’t know he was breaking British law’

A quick internet search would have avoided him being in trouble

Joe Harker

Joe Harker

A US tourist was recently arrested on a beach in the UK after he said he hadn't properly understood the laws in this country.

Now there can be some pretty niche laws you can fall foul of when travelling abroad, such as one British businessman who spent a week in jail for bringing his phone to a yoga retreat in India a few years ago.

In Marbella you can be fined €750 (£870) for peeing in the sea, while if you visit one beach in Benidorm you can be slapped with a €150 (£130) fine for building sandcastles.

But the UK law this American breached is perhaps less innocuous.

Advert

The US tourist was visiting Herne Bay (Getty Stock Image)
The US tourist was visiting Herne Bay (Getty Stock Image)

Kent Online reported that police were called to the picturesque seaside town of Herne Bay after they'd received reports of a man armed with a kitchen knife and listening to music from the band UB40.

While the latter is not illegal in the UK, the former most certainly is.

When police confronted the tourist, he said he came from a US state where carrying guns around was normal, so he thought he'd need to take the knife with him when going out in public in the seaside British town to protect himself.

Despite the UK's reputation for knife crime in some circles, the US actually has a higher rate of knife crime and that's before you even factor in all of their gun crime as well.

Advert

Studies on the matter have shown that the US has 6.81 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, almost six times higher than the UK's rate of 1.17 per 100,000 people.

The US also has 0.53 stabbing deaths per 100,000 people, compared to the UK's much lower rate of 0.08 stabbing deaths per 100,000.

Welcome to Herne Bay, please do not bring a knife with you when you go outside (Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images)
Welcome to Herne Bay, please do not bring a knife with you when you go outside (Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images)

So this guy really didn't need to bring a knife with him.

When the police caught up to him and arrested him, the US tourist admitted to possessing the knife in public and told officers that he didn't understand the law in the UK about carrying weapons.

Advert

The knife was taken off the man and officers explained to him what the law actually was.

A spokesperson for Kent Police told LADbible: "Kent Police was called to a report that a man had been seen with a knife in the Hampton area of Herne Bay at 10.30am on Thursday 3 April, 2025.

"Officers attended and a man, who is a US citizen and was on holiday in the area, was arrested on suspicion of possession of a knife.

"In interview, the man made a full admission to possessing the knife in public and explained he had not understood UK law around possession of weapons.

"The knife was seized and, following consideration of the circumstances, the matter was dealt with by a community resolution, during which the law was fully explained to him."

UK laws around carrying knives

Police arrested the American, and explained to him that carrying weapons in public was not allowed (Getty Stock Photo)
Police arrested the American, and explained to him that carrying weapons in public was not allowed (Getty Stock Photo)

Advert

For the clarity of any other Americans who don't want to get arrested, it's illegal to carry a knife out in public in the UK without a 'good reason', and thinking you'll need to protect yourself in the dangerous environment of a beach doesn't count.

These 'good reasons' include needing the knife for work, wearing it as part of a national costume or having it for religious reasons such as the kirpan knife carried by Sikhs.

You can carry a folding pocketknife as long as the cutting edge is no longer than three inches and are not 'lock knives' where you use a button or mechanism to lock the blade into place.

Breaking this law can result in a prison sentence of up to four years and an unlimited fine, the government says you will get a prison sentence if you're convicted of illegally carrying a weapon more than once.

Featured Image Credit: Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images

Topics: UK News, US News, Crime

Joe Harker
Joe Harker

Joe graduated from the University of Salford with a degree in Journalism and worked for Reach before joining the LADbible Group. When not writing he enjoys the nerdier things in life like painting wargaming miniatures and chatting with other nerds on the internet. He's also spent a few years coaching fencing. Contact him via [email protected]

X

@MrJoeHarker

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

10 hours ago
11 hours ago
  • 10 hours ago

    Everything we know about Texas floods that have killed at least 121 as Trump arrives at disaster site

    The President and the First Lady have headed to the state one week after the horror floods wreaked havoc

    News
  • 11 hours ago

    Scientists make surprising discovery at what lies under Antarctic ice sheet after its been covered in ice for 34 million years

    It could help scientists predict the future of the ice sheet

    News
  • 11 hours ago

    Paedophile to be surgically castrated after raping girl, 6, in nation's shock new punishment tactic

    It comes a year after a law was passed in Madagascar permitting the controversial punishment

    News
  • 11 hours ago

    Scientists think they've worked out what unknown interstellar object in our solar system is

    It came from outside our own solar system

    News
  • British child, six, arrested as '14kg of drugs found in case' after landing at airport
  • Angry Ginge shares truth after he was ‘arrested’ at British Grand Prix and ‘banned from Silverstone'
  • Family of British tourist detained in US following Trump crackdown speak out about ‘nightmare’ situation
  • Proposed law could mean British man facing death penalty by firing squad in Bali may avoid execution