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- 27 Apr 2004
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- In bed with your sister
I got back from working in Egypt earlier than expected yesterday.
The first available flight from Alexandria was Saturday so my company arranged for us to fly from Cairo-Amsterdam-Aberdeen in the early hours of Friday morning.
After coming off night shift and hanging around for ages waiting for various things (chopper, immigration etc.) we eventually got to Cairo airport at about 23:30. Our flight wasn't until 02:55 so we went and had a few beers before visiting the duty free shop.
They didn't have my brand of tobacco but they had other stuff that is ok so I bought 3x250gram boxes. I also bought a box of 25 "Cuban" cigars.
We got to Amsterdam and whilst waiting for my colleague, I noticed that they had my brand in the duty free shop there so I bought a 500gram pack from there.
When we got back to Aberdeen, I got taken into the Customs bit to have my bags searched.
The customs officer asked if I knew the limits for taking stuff back into the country and I admitted I had no idea (I foolishly assumed that the relatively small amount I had would be fine
).
It transpires that I was only allowed to take 250grams back from Egypt as this is duty-free but up to 3Kg from Amsterdam as this is duty paid.
He then drew the sign on the wall to my attention which said that if you are carrying more than your limit then all of your stuff will be confiscated. I gave a bit of a and said "Oh great". The customs guy filled out the form and told me he had to confiscate the Cairo stuff but as the Amsterdam stuff was within the limit, I could keep that.
I suggested that since it was obviously a genuine mistake, I would be happy to pay the duty on the goods but was told that as I'd come through the green channel, I had forfeited the right to do this.
After he had filled out the form and taken all my details he said "it's no big deal." "This won't go on record".
At this point my patience snapped and I replied "It might be no big deal to you mate, but that's about seventy quids worth you're stealing from me."
He replied that he wasn't stealing it but following the procedure. I tried to make him see that confiscating it was unnecessary as it was a genuine mistake but he said that the rule was there to stop people from abusing the duty-free system.
I told him that I understood that and agreed that it was reasonable to confiscate goods from people who were smuggling large quantities into the country for selling on for profit but that the quantity I had was obviously for personal use and that I should be allowed the opportunity to pay the duty and learn my lesson that way.
My main gripe is that, depriving someone of goods they have paid for without reasonable cause is tantamount to theft.
If I had been given the opportunity to pay the duty to correct my mistake, I would have had no complaints but confiscating the relatively small amount I had was unnecessary and therefore HM Customs have deprived me of the use of my property without just cause.
Before anyone says it, I realise that it would have been wise to check up on what I was allowed to bring back but I genuinely thought that the small amount I had bought would be fine.
I realise that this is probably a pointless thread but I am furious and needed to have a good rant. I would also be interested to hear other people's opinions. Do you think HM Customs were justified in confiscating my property or do you also think they were unnecessarily heavy-handed?
Stan
PS: I was looking forward to those cigars
The first available flight from Alexandria was Saturday so my company arranged for us to fly from Cairo-Amsterdam-Aberdeen in the early hours of Friday morning.
After coming off night shift and hanging around for ages waiting for various things (chopper, immigration etc.) we eventually got to Cairo airport at about 23:30. Our flight wasn't until 02:55 so we went and had a few beers before visiting the duty free shop.
They didn't have my brand of tobacco but they had other stuff that is ok so I bought 3x250gram boxes. I also bought a box of 25 "Cuban" cigars.
We got to Amsterdam and whilst waiting for my colleague, I noticed that they had my brand in the duty free shop there so I bought a 500gram pack from there.
When we got back to Aberdeen, I got taken into the Customs bit to have my bags searched.
The customs officer asked if I knew the limits for taking stuff back into the country and I admitted I had no idea (I foolishly assumed that the relatively small amount I had would be fine
).It transpires that I was only allowed to take 250grams back from Egypt as this is duty-free but up to 3Kg from Amsterdam as this is duty paid.
He then drew the sign on the wall to my attention which said that if you are carrying more than your limit then all of your stuff will be confiscated. I gave a bit of a
and said "Oh great". The customs guy filled out the form and told me he had to confiscate the Cairo stuff but as the Amsterdam stuff was within the limit, I could keep that.I suggested that since it was obviously a genuine mistake, I would be happy to pay the duty on the goods but was told that as I'd come through the green channel, I had forfeited the right to do this.
After he had filled out the form and taken all my details he said "it's no big deal." "This won't go on record".
At this point my patience snapped and I replied "It might be no big deal to you mate, but that's about seventy quids worth you're stealing from me."
He replied that he wasn't stealing it but following the procedure. I tried to make him see that confiscating it was unnecessary as it was a genuine mistake but he said that the rule was there to stop people from abusing the duty-free system.
I told him that I understood that and agreed that it was reasonable to confiscate goods from people who were smuggling large quantities into the country for selling on for profit but that the quantity I had was obviously for personal use and that I should be allowed the opportunity to pay the duty and learn my lesson that way.
My main gripe is that, depriving someone of goods they have paid for without reasonable cause is tantamount to theft.
If I had been given the opportunity to pay the duty to correct my mistake, I would have had no complaints but confiscating the relatively small amount I had was unnecessary and therefore HM Customs have deprived me of the use of my property without just cause.
Before anyone says it, I realise that it would have been wise to check up on what I was allowed to bring back but I genuinely thought that the small amount I had bought would be fine.
I realise that this is probably a pointless thread but I am furious and needed to have a good rant. I would also be interested to hear other people's opinions. Do you think HM Customs were justified in confiscating my property or do you also think they were unnecessarily heavy-handed?
Stan
PS: I was looking forward to those cigars
Wowzers! 
