Is it true that pepper spray is illegal in UK? I heard it somewhere that you can be arrested if you carry it in your purse . How do British women defend themselves then?

Life in Britain isn't that bad :D :D Most women are just careful not to go out alone, frequent lonely places or use unlicensed taxis etc :)

Daisy

Go out alone at night I'm sure you mean, I'm sure many of us are out and about without an excort, even canine ;), during the day.  Even at night a trusted lift or taxi to a well lit centre of most towns and home again would be fine for a gal out to meet up with her mates for instance. 

Its funny isn't it - but I do avoid some places, in even broad daylight. There is a very quiet stretch of canal by us that I sometimes walk the Danes along. I took Phoebe up there the other day and a man was walking toward me with a hat on, hood up, scarf round his face, carrying an upberella - and it was quite warm. Without Phoebe I'd have turned heel, but with her I am much more confident. She welded herself to my leg and glared at him - but I made him walk on the canal side as we passed

I walk every day in quiet woods/fields and love it but this is with the dogs. I donit mind going into town at night on my own to meet friends either. There is really only one place that I feel nervous. I'm a night shift bus driver and obviously through the night there are few places open if you need to go to the loo so our company have their own loos dotted around town. The one I hate using is at a remote terminal point, no houses, no street lights, just a turning circle and a bus stop with a toilet at the back...the door is on the far side from the pavement where the bus is so you have to walk round the building with all these dark trees around you....shudders...I absolutely hate it but needs must at times...lol.. :D

Yes, it is illegal to carry pepper spray but I'm told hairspray can be pretty effective and is perfectly legal ;)

I've never felt the need to carry any sort of defensive weapon and take all the usual precautions when out and about like Daisy has mentioned. However, I am rarely out alone as I usually have the dogs in tow and the sight of a Newfie and a Rottie X makes most people cross the road to avoid me

Should have added that I feel perfectly safe going out alone during the day in normal public spaces :) Personally I wouldn't walk the dogs alone in forests/fields that I was unfamiliar with tho' :)

Daisy

Well sometimes you have no choice and you simply have to walk alone in the dark. Not that anything might happen, but i still like to be protected in a way. Crime in UK is not such a small problem as I hear..... more and more people being harassed and stabbed with knives for no reason what so ever.

Depends whereabouts in the UK you are :)

Make sure you take your mobile with you at all times :)

It is rare we ever see another person on the long walk we  normally go on

I used to go on another walk in the next village on my own with the girls and found out there is an unresolved MURDER going back ten years

I walk my dog alone at night and some people may say thats asking for trouble.  But at the end of the day i dont walk him through a wood or down dark alleyways.  Crime is a problem everywhere, obviously some places worse than others but people have still got to go about their daily business.  You just have to keep your wits about you and appear confident.

I have found that I enjoy a really late night walk with my canine girls.  The streets are lovely and empty and quiet, and the dogs woudl react to any suspicious sound.

I feel safer then than I do in a crowded shopping centre where you are more likely to be pick pocketed, or acosted by drunken/druggy beggars.

Be careful with those pepper spray things, my hubby bought me a keychain one and it was hung by my bed on the wall. Nope not in the light or anything, well anyhow one day when I was at work and hubby was home the damn thing exploded, I mean literaly exploded. It shattered into some pieces ripped the leather holder thing it was in and also put a dent in the wall and pepper spray and pieces of it all over my wall, bed, pillow. If I was laying in bed that would of done a good number on my head, not to mention if I had it in my pocket what could of happened.... My hubby took pictures of it, the mess it did on the wall ect and e-mailed the company and sent the pics. Not sure if they ever got back to us... The dogs wouldn't even go upstairs at all, hubby went up there to clean up but he said the smell and sting alone was just awful...

Just letting you know if you even think of getting this be careful, mine wasn't even a year old :(

Not sure whether its legal or not for joe public, but the police use it. I dont like walking in the dark on my own, it never used to bother me when I was much younger but it does now, so carry a personal alarm or take one of the dogs with me :)

I'm not easily frightened but I am not complacent either.  I worry more for my son because he is now moving into the most vulnerable group (16-24 year old males).

  

Ory...

Not sure if you're talking about true pepper spray, oleoresin capsicum, or mace.  I carry OC for work and can tell you, if it came down to spraying someone with hairspray or mace, I'd choose the hairspray.  ;)  Mace, in the spray form, often does more harm than good to the sprayer...the blow back if you're in the wind can incapacitate you rather than the attacker.  Hard to judge the wind when you're being attacked.  A good punch to the throat, a kick to the groin, and/or a thumb in the eye all work wonders.  If you're being attacked and feel the need to use pepper spray or mace, your attacker is often too close for you to either get to it or use it.  Learning a couple hands on defense tactics would work 100x better.

When I was in elementary school, we were taught to scream 'fire' at the top of our lungs if someone attacked us.  :)  Seems people are much more apt to run out of their homes to gawk at a fire than they would be to assist someone screaming 'help'.

http://www.c-p-p.co.uk/product.asp?ProdID=2120&CtgID=1006&REFID={F1F07A3C-4669-404D-89C7-77A400B40EC7}
This might be helpfull

abbymum, that is brilliant!!!  I check it out and looks interesting. Specially the fact that the blue color says on the attacker's face for a while ;) ......

Gibson, quite frankly I don't know which pepper spray I was thinking about .... ... I always thought there was just one thing called pepper spray and never really researched the thing anyway.
I too think that self defense classes are a great idea. I might as well take some lessons once I find some time. They teach you techniques and you stay fit on top of it as well! ;)

Oh and that "fire" trick is very popular everywhere. At least you get people's attention.....

Ory,

Typically here, in the States, the only thing available in a store, let's say Wal-Mart, is mace.  It's a watered down version of true pepper spray.  OC, which is what we have at work and what police carry, is a 10% pepper 'juice' oil based spray.  We can carry foam, spray or stream...up to us.  The foam sticks to the face (or wherever it hits:rolleyes:) and dyes the skin an orange color.  The foam is nice because it spreads like shaving cream, you can also spray it into your own hand and smear it across someone's eyes.  Sounds a bit much but when you have to fight in close quarters and don't want to spray your partner, that comes in handy.  ;) 

Self-defense classes are good...so is Judo (if you're looking into one of the martial arts).  Judo teaches you more grappling and ground fighting than the other disciplines I do believe.

Anyway... :)  None of it is illegal here, you just don't find the OC as readily accessible.  It's sold through police supply magazines and at uniform stores and such.