Law -
Customs & Excise (Recent
cases)
A
jobless man from Durham ordered 800 cigarettes
and 800 grammes of hand-roll tobacco from a
Spanish website for £137. But the goods were
seized by Customs officers before he received
them. His order was under the UNOFFICIAL limit of
800 cigarettes and 1kg of tobacco that travellers
can bring in, but he was told that by law he
should have informed Customs and arranged to pay
tax. A Customs spokesman said the sites “are
a con” and tax is payable on cigarettes
bought on the internet.
A 63 year-old was thrown off a pensioners’
coach and left by the roadside after her sherry
and cigarettes were seized. She was stranded 200
miles from her Nottingham home when Dover
officials pounced following a day-trip to Calais
and detained her for two hours.
A disabled man was forced to make his own way
home from Folkestone to Bristol and hasn’t
seen his £13,000 Ford Focus for over a year
after it was seized because he had ten cartons of
cigarettes.
A builder had his £3,000 Rover seized after
officers found just 200 cigarettes in the boot.
He was raided at his home in Margate, Kent,
because he makes frequent trips to France.
Customs officers seized a mans BMW, even though
he’d never been abroad in his life. Two
plain-clothes officers armed with a warrant
knocked on his door. They suspected he had
tobacco in the house. The 48-year-old, who
doesn’t even own a passport, said, “I
told them I did have tobacco, and they made a
note of everything I had.” He had 3,000
cigarettes, 1kg of Old Holborn, 2kg of Drum
tobacco and 0.2kg of Golden Virginia. The Customs
men then asked to search his BMW parked outside
and found 400 Benson and Hedges in the boot. They
then accused him of selling the stuff from his
door. “They then said, "We aren’t
going to charge you with anything so your job
will be safe, but we’re taking your
car". His appeal against the seizure of his
£6,500 J-reg BMW was rejected.
A disabled grandad had his car and belongings
seized - including his CRUTCH. He was stranded in
France after UK officials told him to make his
own way home. Days later Customs raided his HOME
and he learned from the DVLA that his Range Rover
had been sold.
A grandad was ordered to produce his wedding
certificate to a Customs bully, to prove he was
making an “honest” trip. His 800
cigarettes, 20 packs of tobacco and a few bottles
of beer and spirits met unofficial guidelines but
the power-mad Dover official warned him not to
cross the Channel again for SIX MONTHS.
A heart patient waiting for a transplant spent 30
HOURS hitch-hiking home after his car was
confiscated. He pleaded with a Customs official
at Dover not to leave him stranded 200 miles from
home but the woman shrugged and told him,
“That’s your problem. You should have
thought of that.”
A mum-of-four lost a £16,000 Mercedes van when
she returned from Calais with 270 litres of wine
and 240 litres of beer. She was stocking up on
booze to celebrate her 40th birthday in West
Kingsdown, Kent.
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