
Frankyworthy
VIP Member
Hi All
Re personal use wine importing / smuggling. Bearing in mind the personal allowance is now:
Now, according to Guy Boursot, wine merchant south of Calais, current customs officials aren’t in the slightest bit interested in how much wines and spirits people are bringing home for personal consumption. Apparently, they have bigger fish to fry. See below.
Has anybody else had any experience of this when returning back to UK?
Travel
It is now more widely understood that there continue to be no customs checks on anyone bringing back cases of wine into the UK, despite what you may have been told. Not one of our customers has been told off for taking full advantage of taking back as much of our wine as they wanted. Even when 65 boxes of wine were clearly visible, the person in the kiosk has remarked on more than one occasion that there was “no room for a migrant in there - carry on!”.
The main point to bear in mind is that there is no red channel, so there is neither a facility nor an obligation to declare anything. One friend was determined to declare what he felt might cause a problem but was so frustrated by the lack of interest in his stash or any process by which he could pay, that he eventually gave up and followed the official’s advice to drive on as if the conversation had never happened
Re personal use wine importing / smuggling. Bearing in mind the personal allowance is now:
- beer - 42 litres
- wine (still) - 18 litres
- spirits and other liquors over 22% alcohol - 4 litres
- sparkling wine, fortified wine (for example port, sherry) and other alcoholic drinks up to 22% alcohol (not including beer or still wine) - 9 litres
Now, according to Guy Boursot, wine merchant south of Calais, current customs officials aren’t in the slightest bit interested in how much wines and spirits people are bringing home for personal consumption. Apparently, they have bigger fish to fry. See below.
Has anybody else had any experience of this when returning back to UK?
Travel
It is now more widely understood that there continue to be no customs checks on anyone bringing back cases of wine into the UK, despite what you may have been told. Not one of our customers has been told off for taking full advantage of taking back as much of our wine as they wanted. Even when 65 boxes of wine were clearly visible, the person in the kiosk has remarked on more than one occasion that there was “no room for a migrant in there - carry on!”.
The main point to bear in mind is that there is no red channel, so there is neither a facility nor an obligation to declare anything. One friend was determined to declare what he felt might cause a problem but was so frustrated by the lack of interest in his stash or any process by which he could pay, that he eventually gave up and followed the official’s advice to drive on as if the conversation had never happened