Customs seizes first truck in anti-smuggling initiative
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• by Cliff Caswell and MNes Brignall Far-reaching Customs & Excise powers to punish hauliers whose drivers smu le alcohol and tobacco into the UK have been branded as outrageous by truck operators. Last month Customs told the Road Haulage and Freight Transport Associations it was extending the confiscation scheme for vans caught smuggling cigarettes and booze to include all HGVs, and the first seizures have now started (see box).
The new rules mean Customs & Excise can seize a vehicle if transport bosses fail to satisfy officers they are not directly involved in the smuggling. Operators whose vehicles are used to run contraband will get a warning the first time. If the driver is caught a second time, the truck will be confiscated.
Customs are trying to stop drivers hiding behind the "personal consumption" rules to import cigarettes and booze for resale in the UK. Over 80% of all smuggled tobacco that arrives in the UK does so via a freight shipment of some kind.
But operators claim they were not properly consulted about the new rules, and maintain they are being unfairly held responsible for lawbreaking drivers.
Ken 'Taylor, of Huddersfieldbased Ken Taylor Transport, insists the powers were introduced without discussion and unfairly target innocent hauliers. He says: "Workers must be responsible for their own actions to some degree—it is impossible for me to sea if a man is bringing in 200 extra cigarettes.
"All I can say to an employee is that he must go and find another job if he is caught smuggling—but how can I be held responsible for the illegal actions of an individual?"
Taylor adds: We have been in business for 35 years, but our liveli hood is being put at risk by things we canna control—we are really getting fed up."
Both the RHA and the ETA say they an monitoring the situation. A Custom spokesman told CM that the rules are no there to penalise innocent hauliers, but ti crack down on rogue operators.