super slider

came back from one of the new members of the EU. having known you are allowed 3200 from EU countries that is what i brought, but.....from the new members (at least this one) you are only allowed 200!!! So they took 3000 cigs off me...Gutted
Somehow they knew it was in my main baggage. getting paranoid now. earlier in the year when coming back from a centrak american country i got stopped by customs who said they were searching for drugs.
my main luggage was last on the converyor...co-incidence??? i can only guess.
My question (ideally to someone who works in this field) is

Do they scan the baggage when it comes off the aircraft?
Do they have sniffer dogs?

or maybe i looked nervous

they took my passport away, what were they doing with it?
am i on a blacklist now having been stopped twice in a row?

(got stopped 3 times today by people wanting me to do a survey!!!, what is it with my face...no need to answer this)
I want to know how they picked on me?

Brendan Hughes

They were for personal use? If not, too bad. If so, de-cat your car and suck on the exhaust pipe for 20 minutes. Much cheaper.

TDT

I suspect you've fallen foul of a sniffer dog. Where did you enter this country?

super slider

for personal use and an airport in northern in england that easyjet uses. well known to the beatles!
does it make any difference where you land?

TDT

Have a look:

http://www.hmce.gov.uk/channelsPorta...CE_PROD_009396

super slider

this lousey government (not that any of the others are better), a reasonable amount to bring in for personal use is 3200 cigs in the 'main' EU, but from the new countries its 200. ah!! how can a reasonable amount change...its all about money again

super slider

TDT...interesting

TDT

Your passport will have been checked against their records and those on the PNC to check that you're not "Mr Big" and you're not wanted for anything. They would also have made a note on their system that they dealt with you, should you ever come to notice again.

Just how HMCE work.

Jaybird-UK

this adobe file makes interesting reading

http://www.hoverspeed.co.uk/En/news_...fo/leaflet.pdf

Hoverspeed took HMCE to court

CrisPDuk

Now THAT is a very interesting piece of information

Jaybird-UK

yup

I take a copy of it every time I go to France

Recaro

I work as an Xray Engineer on screening machines at an airport, your bags are not scanned when it comes of the aircraft. Your bags should already have been scanned before you flew, therefore there is no need to scan again when you land. They are taken off the plane and put straight onto a reclaim belt.

boomer

But Slider, IIRC - you don't smoke

mb

p.s. Welcome back to "civilisation"!

carl

That sounds like crap to me. You're either in the EU or you're not. There's no "tier" system. Which country was it?

judgejules

Yup, your passport now has a little mark on it somewhere, probably in UV, so even countries without high tech borders know you're coming.

"snap" Remember this sound, its the sound of the rubber gloves at your next 50+ passport controls

Jules

midget1500

well, if your passport has UV on it - get a new one :-) although i guess anyone with access to the computer records won't be bothered by this!

bloke

Yep, and I think it's crap.

I travel back and forth a lot between England and France and at the tunnel I regularly see the backs of vans being searched, and you can usually see inside them...

There is no feckin way umpteen thousand **** and cans of beers are for personal consumption.

I think a "reasonable doubt" scenario should be used to confiscate this stuff.

Let's face it's you and me that are losing out from the lost duty, and we all know that the sort of people that are in to running this sort of caper are hardly likely to be upstanding citizens (and IMHO should be given as much grief as possible )


All IMHO

paulwrxboro

They do scan your bags when they come off. All the big airports have them and the little airports have a mobile scanning unit and a hit squad that vist every couple of weeks the reason your bags come off last is because they go to one side then at the end they put all the bags on together that are full of ****
Everybody that was stood there with you at the end had ****
but most of them who know if there bags arnt out in 5 mins walk away and leave them as they will be full of **** and nothing else

paulwrxboro

And the pasport has now been scanned into there computer and your down as a *** runner for the next 12 months
sorry to say but if you get pulled up in the next 12 months even from the eu the chances are you will lose your cigs

Daryl

Guide to restrictions on tobacco imports from new EU member states.

"Do they scan the baggage when it comes off the aircraft?" - Sometimes, but not as a matter of course.

"Do they have sniffer dogs?" - Unlikely, they are only a few trained to detect tobacco and they can't tell the difference between 200 and 20,000 cigarettes, so aren't much use on passengers baggage.

"or maybe i looked nervous"...most likely

"they took my passport away, what were they doing with it?" - Just checking for any previous run-ins with Customs. I doubt your previous encounter would be recorded, unless they actually seized anything.

"am i on a blacklist now having been stopped twice in a row?" - It will have been recorded as a seizure, but you will not be on a blacklist. When travelling in the future, it would only come to light if you happened to be stopped again.

"Yup, your passport now has a little mark on it somewhere, probably in UV, so even countries without high tech borders know you're coming." - Not true!

Regarding the The Hoverspeed notice, it is actually only stating what the law is. If a customs officer thinks that tobacco products you bring in are not for your own use, he is legally entitled to seize them. You can appeal and ask the Courts to consider the facts, whereupon they will either uphold the seizure or rule in your favour, awarding compensation and costs, as appropriate.

The Government policy of high taxation on tobacco is nothing new, and whatever the rights and wrongs of it are, they have to make sure it is not undermined. As bloke says, evasion of taxes, in whatever form, means that someone, somewhere, has to pay more to make up the shortfall. I'm not being judgemental, just pointing out the reality of the situation

r32

The Government policy of high taxation on tobacco is nothing new, and whatever the rights and wrongs of it are, they have to make sure it is not undermined. As bloke says, evasion of taxes, in whatever form, means that someone, somewhere, has to pay more to make up the shortfall. I'm not being judgemental, just pointing out the reality of the situation

This is all tue, however when we joined the EU we also agreed with some of their laws, what the Customs is doing is 'illegal' and falls foul of one of the laws we agreed to....... Even the High Court agrees that what is taking place is illegal and should be stopped. But our Government apparently feels it is above the law.....
Just imagine if you had been in your car, they would have confiscated that too.

carl

It may be HMC&E policy, but that has got to be against EU free trade law.

Daryl

The High Court judgement in the Hoverspeed case doesn't actually say that what Customs are doing is illegal. The Government actually makes the legislation based on EU law, but, in the case of tobacco duties, the Government and the EU appear to put different interpretations on it. Until that is sorted out, I guess the Government think they are entitled to continue with their interpretation.

Daryl

It's not Customs policy, it's Government policy...

'Announcing the measures in a written statement to Parliament today, Economic Secretary to the Treasury John Healey said: "We recognise and strongly support the right of citizens to shop as they choose across country borders in the EU Single Market and we are committed to the right of UK consumers to bring back as much tobacco and alcohol as they want for their own use. Where minimum rate requirements are met by new Member States the benefits of the Single Market extend immediately. While some of the new Member States are taking advantage of a derogation allowing them to delay meeting minimum duty levels on certain tobacco products, it follows the corresponding Single Market benefits for travellers from those countries are also delayed”.'

super slider

thanks for the replies
Boomer , i've just started
still dont see how it can be deemed personal use France etc 3200, Poland etc 200, but its all about money and what rules (EU laws) this government wants to abide to. They lose taxes on cigs from France etc so whats the difference(do not know if it is still worthwhile buying from there anymore). Saw no signs (was not particularly looking though) on tobbaco restrictions when i have left Luton and Liverpool.
So according to the replies, it could have been scanned, it could have been sniffed, i could have been nervous. guess i will never know , though the bag coming off last may well be a clue, who knows.
Daryl, you say 'if the customs officer thinks the tobbaco products you bring are not for your own use, he is legally entitled to seize them' i wonder what difference the 200 and 3200 make, i guess they are happy to allow you the full 200 limit from 'new' EU countries but may decide that taking the full 3200 limit from 'old' EU countries might not be for personal use.
anybody suggest a good legal way of annoying these custom officers ie making my bag smell/look of something illegal but not actually illegal. I want to waste their time next time, but then again they sit around doing nothing (what a job , money for not much work) a lot of the time, so maybe they will be grateful for something to do

Daryl

As you say, it's only your own time you'll be wasting, they're getting paid for it!

boomer

Slider,

did your flight go directly from "new EU" to "teabag airport, UK", or did you transit via another EU country. If your were to, say, stop off En Francais and they allowed the higher limit then you would then be legally in possession of EU accepted goods as you came back to Blighty.

Fecking B.Liar - ignore some rules (to the deteriment of UK citizens) and yet massively enforce others (to the deteriment of UK citizens)

mb

Daryl

Not true, unfortunately

carl

I've learnt over the last few years that just because the Government decides to do something, it doesn't mean it's legal

Jerome

Put lots of marzipan in your bag - plastic explosive also smells of marzipan.