Another Heavy Smoker

[paul9]

44PM BST 02/06/2008
A former landscape gardener, accused of smuggling tobacco in his car from Belgium, has won a £20,000 legal battle with Customs officials to get the vehicle back.
Mark Mills, 44, who claimed the tobacco was for personal use only, said the strain of the case over two and a half years had led to the collapse of his business.
It had almost caused the breakdown of his marriage.

Mr Mills and a friend had 40kg of Golden Virginia tobacco worth more than £2,500 in their car when they were stopped at Calais on Jan 20, 2006.

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Customs officials disputed Mr Mills's claim that his half share was for personal use only. They seized the tobacco and confiscated the car.

Mr Mills took his case to a tribunal, which ruled that the tobacco was for his own use.

Customs lodged an appeal but has decided not to take the case further and will compensate Mr Mills.

Duty-free tobacco, cigarettes and alcohol can be brought into Britain from other EU countries as long as it is for personal use. But there are guideline limits of 3kg of tobacco, 3,200 cigarettes and 90 litres of wine.

Mr Mills, who is now a window cleaner, said yesterday that Customs should return his blue Volvo. As the car belonged to his wife, Harriet, her beauty therapy business had collapsed, he said.

The couple had paid monthly instalments for a car they had not seen for two and a half years.

"At last Customs have given up in the battle they could never win," he said.

"They think they can just roll over the little man, but I've shown that the little man can win.

"They accused me of lying and they had no proof. So I represented myself and went through the courts.

"It has been incredibly stressful, but this case will now be used in the courts as a precedent and there are plenty of other people to whom this has happened.

"My wife and I are heavy smokers and I had taken to buying enough to smoke through the year. It works out much cheaper. In previous years the customs had been fine. The tobacco was not hidden but they took us off and interrogated us."

In a statement, Revenue and Customs said: "Officers seized the goods and car as they believed they had evidence the goods were not for own use.

"An offer will now be made to Mr Mills for the return of his car on payment of a fee.

"Mr Mills will also receive compensation for the goods that the tribunal found were for his own use".

A Customs spokesman said the car contained an equivalent of 80,000 hand rolled cigarettes, a supply of 11 years' worth of tobacco for a 20-a-day smoker.

[eminafan]

hmmmm my wife and i both smoke golden virginia and i can say without a doubt that, the 6kg that we bought from belgium at the end of december 2007 is still going strong, if a 500 gram pouch lasts 5 days then it would work out that if he smoked all of his half he would be using tobacco like it was going out of fashion, i would of ruled in favour of the customs, why because 40kg is 800 packets half was his so he has 400 packets, (half for his wife of course), so between them they are smoking more than 7 packets per week, if this is possible, ide be interested to see if anyone on this site or anyone you know can smoke a whole pack in one day, ile even go as far as saying you come and sit in my living room for a week ile supply the tobacco and papers and the undertaker for the end of the week
and dont forget the need for sleep too

[paul9]

i get about 50 cigs to a packet,so a pack will last me about 1 1/2 days,probably 5 packs a week i may go through at the most.
But as you know,if you have a few packs family and freinds are always borrowing some from you,but like you say 400 packs is quite a large amount

[eminafan]

i couldnt smoke that much fofcas (falls on floor coughing and spluttering)

[Timberwolf]

I wonder what state his car will be in after 2 1/2 years sat in a Customs compound, which is more than likely to outside.

I also wonder what the stated "fee" will be from customs to release the car as well....

[eminafan]

if he has any brains he will claim it back off them plus the inconveiniance of not having the car, be ok if he could get a rental firm to say he had rented one off them

[paul9]

the tobbacco will have been destroyed,so he will be able to try and claim what its cost at uk prices(£11 per pack)to replace it. as for the car,it may have been destroyed,if not,they will offer him market value,but if its not roadworthy, he will need a transporter to remove it,no tax/mot insurance,so would be better off with compensation,this could cost hmrc a large sum of money.

[eminafan]

ive never been able to fathom out why thet destroy everything, you would think it would make sence to sell it back to the tobacco company or auction the cars off, very puzzzzzzling

[paul9]

In a statement, Revenue and Customs said: "Officers seized the goods and car as they believed they had evidence the goods were not for own use.
An offer will now be made to Mr Mills for the return of his car on payment of a fee.”
The above part of Revenue and Customs statement, is significant in so far as to indicate to me, that Customs were found to have acted reasonably in seizing both the vehicle, and ALL of the importation of excise goods carried by that vehicle.

What the Tribunal possibly found was that the excise goods imported by Mr. Mills, were for Mr. Mill's own use, and that HMR&C should carry out a further Review of their decision not to restore both the vehicle and Mr. Mill’s excise goods.

[paul9]

well so he reckons.
another mess up by hmrc


Not guilty, but they sold my car - ChronicleLive