Zombie knives and machetes officially banned from today

A range of offensive and dangerous weapons are now officially banned from today, Tuesday 24 September.

It is now illegal to own zombie-style knives and machetes and they are now included in the list of dangerous, prohibited items already banned which includes zombie knives, butterfly knives, Samurai swords and push daggers.

Last month, the Government launched a month-long surrender scheme to allow people to hand in weapons in safely and legally, before the ban came into effect.

The surrender scheme allowed people to hand in knives included in the new legislation to police stations, in return for an application for compensation. The scheme ran for four weeks between 26 August to 23 September, without repercussions for surrendering these potentially dangerous knives safely.

People were also able to hand in knives not meeting eligibility for the compensation scheme, anonymously, to ensure that weapons were disposed of safely to the surrender bins at police stations.

From today anyone caught with a zombie-style knife or machete faces time behind bars. The maximum penalty for the importation, manufacturing, possession and sale of these newly proscribed weapons will also be increased from six months to two years, as will the maximum penalty for sales to under-18s.

Cleveland Police’s lead on knife-crime, Detective Chief Inspector Stuart Hodgson, said: “Anything that reduces the availability of knives will help prevent knife crime.

“Most incidents involving a knife or a bladed weapon are not planned, but carrying a knife or a bladed weapon increases the likelihood of serious violence. I welcome any ban that reduces the availability of knives, so that we can reduce the serious harm caused by knives and bladed weapons in Cleveland.

“There are permanent knife surrender bins at all of our main stations – Middlesbrough, Stockton, Redcar and Hartlepool – and we encourage people to hand in bladed weapons anonymously so that they are removed from the streets of Teesside.”