Smugglers face lost 0-licences by Sally Nash II Hauliers involved
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in cross-Channel booze and tobacco smuggling face having their licences revoked as part of a tough new package of measures to crack down on the crime.
The Government is trying to ram home the message that smuggling "does not pay" by bringing in stiffer sanctions for bootleggers. These include: • Customs & Excise passing on details of operators using lorries for smuggling purposes to the Traffic Commissioners who could revoke their 0-licences; • The second time drivers are caught they will have to pay £1,000 to retrieve a seized vehicle—the usual fee is £250; • For a third offence the vehicle may be confiscated permanently; • A tougher prosecution policy could mean driving bans for those caught.
These are interim measures to bridge the gap until the Government's spending reviews have been completed, when further plans to tackle the problem will be announced.
A Home Office spokesman says: "Although most of the bootlegging is done in vans, certainly trucks are involved. Revoking licences has been an option up until now but we are going to start referring people to Traffic Commissioners now as a matter of course. The one clear message we are trying to send is—don't get involved." Customs & Excise estimates that for 1997, tax evasion from cross-border smuggling came to about £950m.
"We are going to make life very uncomfortable indeed for people who steal tax," warns the spokesman.
In September last year a Stranraer-based lorry driver was jailed for nine months for evading duty on alcohol and tobacco.
And in June last year two drivers working for Dudley haulier Mark Nixon were jailed after they were found guilty of smuggling alcohol.
During the past financial year Customs officers detected more than 8,700 incidents of illegal alcohol and tobacco smuggling and seized 2,929 vehicles.
The Home Office has a hotline for reporting excise smuggling on (freephone) 0800 901901.
Northern Irish Truck driver Michael McGarry of Blackwater Town has denied smuggling almost £1m worth of cannabis through Dover at Maidstone Crown Court. He was arrested after Customs found gaps in his tachograph records.