1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144 
Onion search took two days
Page 5
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• A driver was held at Portsmouth harbour for more than 24 hours last week as Customs 84 Excise officials searched his entire load of onions without any explanation.
The driver. from NorthernIrish haulier Towmac Transport, arrived at Portsmouth harbour from France with a perishable load of onions, at 09:00hrs on Monday 7 January—he was still being held by Customs officials as CM went to press on Tuesday afternoon. Towmac transport manager Alex Hameln says: The whole situation is ridiculous. The stevedore didn't even have the necessary equipment to remove my cargo. My driver was forced to wait while the stevedore went to the builders merchants to buy sacks to transfer the onions into from the trailer. My customer was even asked to pay for the sacks by Customs officials; understandably he refused.'' Romein says because Customs officers felt searching by hand was taking too long the truck was sent to Southampton to be scanned. But the scanner failed to penetrate the load so it was sent back to Portsmouth to continue the hand search: "This also happened last month but then my driver was only delayed for nine hours."
A Customs spokesman says: "There are many reasons to search particular loads. We may have specific information on the load or the vehicle, or the load may fit a particular profile. We have found contraband goods in onions before."