Rights and LimitsStopped in the street or in a vehiclePolice ask what you are doing: do you have to answer?
Police ask what you are doing: do you have to answer?
What you can refuse
Every claim below links to the law it comes from, with the wording quoted so you can check it yourself.
You can refuse
Saying no is lawful and is not an offence, but it is not always free of consequences: read each item in full.
You do not have to explain what you are doing, where you are going, or answer any other question during a stop and account.
GOV.UK is direct on this: you do not have to stop or answer, and declining alone cannot be used as a reason to search or arrest you.
GOV.UK, Police powers to stop and search: your rights — Police powers to stop and question
“what your name is— what you’re doing in the area— where you’re going— You do not have to stop or answer any questions. If you do not and there’s no other reason to suspect you, then this alone cannot be used as a reason to search or arrest you.”
Read it at gov.ukquote checked 2026-10-24
Decline to answer without that refusal itself being treated as grounds to search you.
Reasonable grounds for a search cannot be built retrospectively out of your silence.
PACE Code A (2023), paragraph 2.9
“Reasonable grounds for suspicion however cannot be provided retrospectively by such questioning during a person’s detention or by refusal to answer any questions asked.”
Read it at gov.ukquote checked 2026-08-25
You do not have to tell an officer your name simply because you have been stopped and asked it.
There is no general duty to identify yourself. The anti-social behaviour and driving exceptions are separate.
GOV.UK, Police powers to stop and search: your rights — Police powers to stop and question
“what your name is— what you’re doing in the area— where you’re going— You do not have to stop or answer any questions. If you do not and there’s no other reason to suspect you, then this alone cannot be used as a reason to search or arrest you.”
Read it at gov.ukquote checked 2026-10-24
This is not stop and search
“Why are you round here?” “What’s in the bag?” “Where have you come from?” — an officer can ask any of this without using any legal power at all. PACE Code A is explicit that ordinary encounters like this do not need one.
This is different from stop and search, which needs reasonable grounds under a specific power before anyone can be detained or searched. A stop and account is just a conversation, and it stays a conversation unless the officer goes on to detain you for a search.
You do not have to answer
There is no general duty to explain yourself, give your account of what you are doing, or answer any question put to you during a stop and account. You can decline politely and walk away.
Refusing to answer is not, by itself, something that can be turned against you. The Code is direct on this point: an officer cannot manufacture grounds for a search out of your silence.
The record requirement was dropped
Stop and search has a statutory record. Stop and account does not — the Home Office removed the national requirement to record these encounters, and current Code A confirms there is none. If an officer tells you they need your details for “the record”, ask what record, and under what power.
Where the conversation can turn
None of this stops an officer forming reasonable grounds to suspect you during the conversation — from what they see, from other information, or from your own account. If that happens, the encounter can become a lawful stop and search, and the search rules take over from that point.
What cannot happen is grounds appearing purely because you declined to answer. If you are unsure whether you are still just being asked to account for yourself, or have been detained for a search, it is reasonable to ask directly.
Related pages
- Stopped and searched in the streetEngland & Wales
- Do you have to give police your name?England & Wales
- Filming the policeEngland & Wales
- Live facial recognition cameras: what the law actually saysEngland & Wales
Last reviewed 2026-08-25. Next review due 2027-02-25. No solicitor has reviewed this page — see [email protected] if you think something here is wrong.