Knife Seized By Customs

H

hoffman

Joined
Jul 9, 2010
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5
I ordered a Utillitac II knife from the Knifecenter and after researching the missing item through the Royal Mail I finally received a letter from the border agency. The letter states that the item has been seized because it is a gravity knife. The Ontario Utillitac II is not a gravity knife in any way. It is merely a stud opening lock knife. I have 28 days to appeal. I believe I should appeal because this is going too far. Any lock knife can be made into a gravity knife by loosening the retention screws but who does that. They have said it may have to go to a magistrates court under a civil action if I appeal and I will have to pay my own costs if I lose.

I will add in the past I have other knives which have been inspected by customs that really look far more menacing and the same locking system without problems.

All help and experiences appreciated

Regards

Brian
 
So you ran afoul of the trolls at Mount Doom? it has happened before.
hoffman said:
I ordered a Utillitac II knife from the Knifecenter and after researching the missing item through the Royal Mail I finally received a letter from the border agency. The letter states that the item has been seized because it is a gravity knife. The Ontario Utillitac II is not a gravity knife in any way. It is merely a stud opening lock knife. I have 28 days to appeal. I believe I should appeal because this is going too far. Any lock knife can be made into a gravity knife by loosening the retention screws but who does that. They have said it may have to go to a magistrates court under a civil action if I appeal and I will have to pay my own costs if I lose.

I will add in the past I have other knives which have been inspected by customs that really look far more menacing and the same locking system without problems.

All help and experiences appreciated

Regards

Brian
Click to expand...
 
Many of us have been there,it's gone .I don't import anything other than slipjoints it's not worth it.
 
hoffman said:
I ordered a Utillitac II knife from the Knifecenter and after researching the missing item through the Royal Mail I finally received a letter from the border agency. The letter states that the item has been seized because it is a gravity knife. The Ontario Utillitac II is not a gravity knife in any way. It is merely a stud opening lock knife. I have 28 days to appeal. I believe I should appeal because this is going too far. Any lock knife can be made into a gravity knife by loosening the retention screws but who does that. They have said it may have to go to a magistrates court under a civil action if I appeal and I will have to pay my own costs if I lose.

I will add in the past I have other knives which have been inspected by customs that really look far more menacing and the same locking system without problems.

All help and experiences appreciated

Regards

Brian
Click to expand...

Much has been written on EdgeMatters and British Blades about this. You should look there. This has been happening in the UK for some time.
 
A while back I had a ZT 0452 CF taken by NZ Customs, because it was "One (1) Zero Tolerance Flick Knife" according to them.
It took 6 months of following the procedures to appeal the decision (they sure had some hoops to jump through) but finally, they relented and sent me my knife.
TBH I thought it wouldn't work and was surprised when I finally got it.

Not saying that you will have the same outcome up there in Blighty, but if they give you the chance to appeal their BS decision, follow it up. Good luck buddy.
 
I agree if you do not try they will get away with it every time. The law is lock knives are legal so the idea of some civil servant interpreting the law to suit his own prejudices is something I cannot accept without challenging it. Thanks for your support

Cursum Perficio said:
A while back I had a ZT 0452 CF taken by NZ Customs, because it was "One (1) Zero Tolerance Flick Knife" according to them.
It took 6 months of following the procedures to appeal the decision (they sure had some hoops to jump through) but finally, they relented and sent me my knife.
TBH I thought it wouldn't work and was surprised when I finally got it.

Not saying that you will have the same outcome up there in Blighty, but if they give you the chance to appeal their BS decision, follow it up. Good luck buddy.
Click to expand...
 
Many people have been in the same situation as you, including myself. Some say they will challenge the decision.
I can tell you now exactly how this will go, and it's not worth it.
You will go through the appeal process and they will stick to their decision.
Then you will ask for an 'independent' review and they will tell you the decision is correct, no matter how convincing your argument.
Then you have a choice. You can let it go, or you can take them to court.
If you take them to court, their expensive barrrister will have an expensive 'expert' demonstrate to the expensive judge how the knife can be flicked open like this (@58 secs)
You will lose.
Question is, are you willing to risk the costs awarded against you for the barrister, expert, court time etc?
Good luck.
 
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hoffman said:
I agree if you do not try they will get away with it every time. The law is lock knives are legal so the idea of some civil servant interpreting the law to suit his own prejudices is something I cannot accept without challenging it. Thanks for your support
Click to expand...
When you do have your day in court read this loudly to the judge. Might not go over well but it will surely get your point across. Good Luck .

"Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny."
—Thomas Jefferson
 
Ok look this is happening all over the world. Forces of authority are taking people's knife in hand. They hold the knife as you would in reverse grip but with the blade closed. Then they snap their wrist downwards as hard as they can downwards causing the knife blade to fly out and lock open. Because they can inertial open the knife like that they are calling it a "gravity knife."

The solution is any time you buy a knife and are having it shipped ask whoever is shipping it to crank down the pivot as hard as they can.
 
Contest it. They are hoping you won't, so its unlikely to get to court as at some point someone who actually might know will appraise it correctly. Many a jobsworth will show their ignorance or prejudice. Sadly its left for you to educate them.

Do not explain, just say they are incorrect. You want your property back. Anything further and you will demand all costs. The letter should be three lines long no more.

Don't let them get away with it.
 
Good luck and keep us advised as to your progress or lack thereof.
 
Appealing will get you nothing. If you research on how many appeals are granted, you will see that it is a waste of time.

When this happened to me, I bit the bullet, and paid UPS to ship the "prohibited weapon" (a Sebenza) back to the shipper.

That is the best option unless you want to surrender it to the crown.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
The better option is to fight for a change in the laws. All across the US knife laws have been tempered with reason in the last 10 years. Make it a world-wide movement.

After 911 the bans on knives as weapons have been proven foolish, the terrorists can kill more people with a lorry than a knife...I doubt they will ban lorries.
 
Same stuff happens in Canada, with knives seized by customs... being the exact same knives you can find at Canadian retailers (at abusive prices).

So my questions are... How come they got imported in here at first without trouble? Is there a different law for the commoner Vs. retailers?
 
Nope. Retailers will get stuff seized too. Which feeds into the ruinous prices they charge.
 
Honestly it will be way easier and cheaper to just order a new Utilitac II and this time tell whoever you order it from to crank down the pivot screw until you can hardly open the knife at all. Then when they can't swing the blade open they won't be able to call it a gravity knife.
 
Bummer. This is one reason why I don't like to ship knives overseas. Knife laws are complicated, and you never know when you'll get a customs agent having a bad day.

I have had people in Canada ask me to tighten up the pivot -- as Lapedog suggested -- so it's difficult to open and impossible to open by gravity with a wrist flip.

Good luck.
 
We go through this is New York City. Cops are instructed that if they can flick a knife open -- using any amount of force or any wrist action -- it's a gravity knife.

Knife Rights are doing a good job of pushing a bill through the State Assembly that would at least create an objective definition of what a gravity knife is.
 
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