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Welcome to the UK. You make the mistake of trying to apply logic. Just because a knife is a legitimate tool and you have a genuine reason to be using it doesn’t mean you won’t be charged. Their law simply does not care and if you’re caught it doesn’t matter the reason you had it.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jul/28/man-allotment-gardening-tools-arrest-armed-police-manchester

Search engines are garbage and only give me results about the news story in the OP even with very specific search terms but there was one a few years ago where someone, I want to say he was a carpenter or tradesman of some sort had a normal pocket knife in his work pants outside of work and got arrested and convicted. The judge at his trial apologized and said it was unfortunate since the knife was a normal requirement for his work but the law is the law. They then returned the knife to him after the trial because they acknowledged it was needed for work.

So there are some things to consider here.

Thing 1: The UK law is that citizens should not carry a knife exceeding 3" in length in public unless they have good reason to. In reality, what this means is that unless you are a scumbag, there is not a problem. Going hunting? On the tools? Work as a chef? Not an issue. Being a sketchy gang member who intends to do harm to others? - now the public services have something to charge you with to prevent said behaviour. While there are exemptions to the rule for religious/cultural groups (Scots included), the reality is that it’s a non issue unless you plan on breaking the law.

Thing 2: The UK police have been chronically underfunded for decades as the wealth of the country has been gradually privatised and offshored by the very same groups who fund political parties like The Conservatives and Reform (who are currently stoking tension with this story) and whose donors, coincidentally, own much of the media. Police now receive very little training and not much pay. The organisation is very under-resourced.

Thing 3: The police officers attended the scene having been told by the perpetrators that they had been attacked and racially abused by a drunk man who then tried to climb over a fence and fell on his head. They entered the scene primed to find a drunk/drugged and violent muppet who had fallen on his own head having attacked a family on a domestic street. The police officers were incompetent, poorly trained, not that bright. What happened was tragic. They failed to perceive the truth… but to say the are somehow racist is a stretch. They were deceived by an unhinged man, who has been locked up already.

Lastly, thing 4: The Sikh idiot didn’t use the standard ceremonial (and often blunt) blade that Sikhs normally carry. He used a larger and very sharp one. I believe his family members (who assisted in the deception; his mother even hid the knife) are being charged with weapons offences today.

All very sad.

Not sure about this exact locality, but there totally are places and areas where you are not permitted to carry knifes. The USA is really an exemption that people are allowed to carry assault rifles, grenade launchers and flamethrowers in the subway. Other countries have knife bans in place so that you are not allowed knifes in public transport or in other places

Uk law is you can carry up to a 3.5" folding knife as a general EDC. Obviously exemptions if your job requires it but they need to be stored correctly so chefs put them in canvas rolls, trades tool boxes etc

Can't tell you how it is in the UK, but here in Germany, you're only allowed to carry knives with short blades (<= 12 cm, IIRC) in public, anything larger than that has to be stowed away safely, so that it cant be reached easily. A locked container would be ideal, but the precise definition is a bit wishy washy, and there are also designated areas, where even the small ones are not allowed (or fall under the same restrictions. I'm not really sure).

Furthermore, there are knives, which are just generally outlawed depending on their construction; like spring-loaded knives and butterfly knives, for example.

If there are at least similar regulations in the UK, the Sikh's ceremonial daggers, could fall into a category that would usually be banned, but with an exemption for religious reasons.

Some of the rules here are a bit silly, imho, but the fact, that we don't treat a small paring knife the same as an army combat knife at least makes sense to me.

Because Sikhs have to carry the knife as part of their religion. The religion, however, forbids the offensive use of the knife. It is only for self-defense.