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

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.

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.

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)

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.

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)

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.