Oh, I'm sure they are. Pretty much any pocket knife is illegal in the UK. I was signed up for a knife swap/secret santa type thing a few years ago and got a guy that was in the UK for it. Had a very damn hard time finding him something cool that was legal for him to own/carry. Ended up finding a decently nice slip joint folding knife under 3" for him after a few hours of looking though, thankfully.

I've never been threatened with a knife here either, just asked about 4700 times if I have one on me so someone can either cut open a taped box, or try to use one of my knives in a way that is actually fucking stupid, where I then have to pretend I never have my knife on me for some reason 🤔