Car boot laws

Stallholders at car boot sales in Suffolk are being urged not to try to sell knives or bladed items from their pitch.

Car boot sales are popular with many sites across the county holding regular events. If you have an unwanted knife, the advice is to deposit in it one of our amnesty bins rather than try to sell it yourself

Detective Chief Inspector Steve Mattin said: “At car boot sales it’s not uncommon to see more elaborate knives for sale; ones that have been brought home from a foreign holiday decades ago and been displayed on the wall or in a cabinet, or even just left in a drawer. While acceptable then, they could be classed as illegal offensive weapons now and you or a buyer could be prosecuted for possessing them.

“Kitchen knives and craft knives can be sold to people over the age of 18 – but again, these can be dangerous and used in crime and so the safest place for them is in an amnesty bin. Marketing knives as weapons is illegal and if you set your stall out in this way you may face arrest or prosecution.”