Yet again we have huge increases in the price of tobacco and cigarettes. Our answer to that is "DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!"
We've refused for years to purchase our smokes from this country and so should you. Don't pay the extortionate UK tax ... buy from the EU.
Not only will you be unbelievably financially better off but you'll also upset the anti-smoking fascists like ASH.
We've made buying your tobacco/cigs abroad far safer by RECORDING the interview if Customs should stop you. Record them openly and you won't believe how nice and friendly Customs behave. The underhand, aggressive and unethical tactics they normally use simply disappear. We've had feedback from many shoppers now and all the feedback is the same ... Customs behave themselves ... period!
Add to this your right NOT to sign their notebook and you've taken away the 2 main things that Customs use to seize goods!
Use our other advice as well and you'll find that legitimate cross-border shopping is no longer the risk it used to be.
So, no more moaning about UK prices ... do yourself a favour and shop abroad AND stop paying UK taxes that fund the likes of ASH.
What's not to like?
UPDATE
Well, we listened to all the radio debates and read most of the articles on the increased taxes on tobacco announced in the Budget till we almost lost the will to live. lt was all so predictable and monotonous from the pro-smoking 'champions'. First we had the shock/horror at the price rise as though no-one knew it was coming! Then we had the dire warnings of the black market/counterfeit gangs and cross-border shopping (you'd think they'd know better than to put the two together in the same sentence ffs). The government and the likes of ASH must've been quaking in their boots ... with laughter! They were being attacked by dead sheep.
What was needed was someone with 'balls and guts' to say "I ADVISE ALL SMOKERS TO BUY THEIR TOBACCO PRODUCTS FROM THE EU. DON'T GIVE THE UK GOV OR THE LIKES OF ASH ONE PENNY MORE IN UK TOBACCO TAX. WE'LL GIVE ADVICE ON HOW TO SHOP IN THE EU SAFELY.' ... etc etc. One could then explain the benefits of UK lowering it's tobacco tax rates to be more inline with Europe and so on. They should finish with telling smokers to shop in the EU again.
That'd get everyones attention, but of course it didn't come, did it? All we got was ... ghostly BAA! BAA!
Bah!
UPDATE 2
FFS that didn't take long. Gov now bringing in minimum pricing on alcohol l'll be bringing cigs and alcohol now! :)
We've refused for years to purchase our smokes from this country and so should you. Don't pay the extortionate UK tax ... buy from the EU.
Not only will you be unbelievably financially better off but you'll also upset the anti-smoking fascists like ASH.
We've made buying your tobacco/cigs abroad far safer by RECORDING the interview if Customs should stop you. Record them openly and you won't believe how nice and friendly Customs behave. The underhand, aggressive and unethical tactics they normally use simply disappear. We've had feedback from many shoppers now and all the feedback is the same ... Customs behave themselves ... period!
Add to this your right NOT to sign their notebook and you've taken away the 2 main things that Customs use to seize goods!
Use our other advice as well and you'll find that legitimate cross-border shopping is no longer the risk it used to be.
So, no more moaning about UK prices ... do yourself a favour and shop abroad AND stop paying UK taxes that fund the likes of ASH.
What's not to like?
UPDATE
Well, we listened to all the radio debates and read most of the articles on the increased taxes on tobacco announced in the Budget till we almost lost the will to live. lt was all so predictable and monotonous from the pro-smoking 'champions'. First we had the shock/horror at the price rise as though no-one knew it was coming! Then we had the dire warnings of the black market/counterfeit gangs and cross-border shopping (you'd think they'd know better than to put the two together in the same sentence ffs). The government and the likes of ASH must've been quaking in their boots ... with laughter! They were being attacked by dead sheep.
What was needed was someone with 'balls and guts' to say "I ADVISE ALL SMOKERS TO BUY THEIR TOBACCO PRODUCTS FROM THE EU. DON'T GIVE THE UK GOV OR THE LIKES OF ASH ONE PENNY MORE IN UK TOBACCO TAX. WE'LL GIVE ADVICE ON HOW TO SHOP IN THE EU SAFELY.' ... etc etc. One could then explain the benefits of UK lowering it's tobacco tax rates to be more inline with Europe and so on. They should finish with telling smokers to shop in the EU again.
That'd get everyones attention, but of course it didn't come, did it? All we got was ... ghostly BAA! BAA!
Bah!
UPDATE 2
FFS that didn't take long. Gov now bringing in minimum pricing on alcohol l'll be bringing cigs and alcohol now! :)
l can honestly say that when l told Customs l was recording them it's the nicest and friendly they've ever been. A few questions and l was on my way with 6kg of tobacco. Happy Days :-)
ReplyDeletegot to agree TJB l recorded the goonies but they tried to stop me, that was until l showed them the FOI thanks to N2D
ReplyDeleteGreat site! Keep it up.
ReplyDeleteI booked Eurotunnel tickets just after watching it on the BBC website. £22 out, £29 back the next day, and that's on the eve of school holidays. Six of us in a LWB VW Caravelle. Gorgeous. :)
ReplyDeleteTake a digital recorder DP if you're bringing any tobacco back ... it's worth it for the entertainment value alone!
DeleteI hope I can join you this year.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it amazing though...you can guarantee that without fail each budget, tobacco products will be further taxed...how original...didn't think that would happen, did you? It will certainly stop people from going into continental Europe to buy their smokes - eh?
You will notice that alcohol escaped any minimum pricing, despite the so called epidemic blighting city centres at weekends.
l hope you can too JJ. We are going next week ... should be fun!
DeleteYes I like to feel I am helping out my poorer EU brothers in Spain by paying tobacco duty to them!
ReplyDeleteAll the headlines have been on a 37p rise in a packet of 20 cigarettes here are the increases in other duties.
ReplyDeleteHand Rolling Tobacco
Increase in Excise duty from £151.90 per Kilo to £164.11
£12.21 per Kilo increase (+20% VAT) total increase £14.61 or 73p per 50gr pouch
Pipe Tobacco
Increase in Excise Duty from £84.98 to £91.81 (per Kilo)
£6.83 per Kilo increase (+20% VAT) total increase £8.17 per Kilo or 41p per 50gr tin
Cigars
Increase in Excise Duty from £193.29 to £208.83 or about 7 1/2 %
bobi
shop in the EU
Spanish tobacco prices almost double two years ago. Spanish Tabacs selling less but Gibraltar imports on the up.
ReplyDeleteSpanish smoking habits have changed little. White van man and "Lookie Lookie" men now selling tobacco, Delivered with a smile to your table and I expect party livener to compliment your wee puff
It really seems as if Osspawn has forgotten that rule of basic economics-imparted to the rest of us in the nursery- about golden egg laying geese being a protected species.
ReplyDeleteAgree bobi, anyone that buys in this country is a bloody fool. This recording of the goonies interview works a treat. They been so used to doing it illegally that they dont know how to do it proper way. They look completely lost and just weakly go through the motions and then off you go with your baccy. lt's classic! Can't thank the boys at N2D enough.
ReplyDeleteWe all owe SH, Zaphod and SBC our thanks. What they've done in less than 2 years is mind blowing. Thanks guys!
DeleteYES Jerome I second that, The boys brought this illegal tactics into the 21st Century, Theres a bottle of JD in my bag for when we meet face to face.
DeleteThree cheers boys
Dear George
ReplyDeleteGibralter has just elected an anti-smoking socialist government. Expect big duty rises and a smoking ban.
sorry for the bad news
bobi
Thank you bobi. Dont see the Spanish paying the big prices, Morocs are swamping the Costas with Genuine fake ROLEX watches. If the tobacco becomes really profitable then they will diversify. The Guardia Civil turn a blind eye to hash so a bit of baccy. We shall see.
ReplyDeleteAnyway Gib depends on British day trippers, Very cash orientated the Gibbers, nice folk though, the IRA Never went back, And good riddence to that.
I think that the government rely upon the in-elasticity of demand at the poorer end of the social classes - those people who cannot afford either the holiday or the capital outlay, along with those people who smoke only a little.
ReplyDeleteWhat surprises me is that there are not loads of non-smokers bringing back as many fags as possible and then 'donating' them to friends. There again, that might be precisely where 'Wyatt van Mann' gets his supplies from.
And off course the customs goonies treat the innocent as if they are all criminal smugglers. SKED said myself and companion were criminal liars, no evedence no proof just the word of a UKBA criminal liar. BUT THE JUDGE SAID DIFFERENT
ReplyDeleteFrom Dave Atherton
ReplyDeleteOne of the finest web campaigns on the net. Wonderful work, keep it up!!
Top marks again to SH & Co Best freedom site on
ReplyDeletethe Web,most of the others are just parrot cages
Lets make it a Sacred Duty for every Real Briton
to stuff the UK taxed paid fag (lit) up
Osborne's rear
Make buying abroad an honour, a sign of a Brit
with bollocks.
I dont need a White Van Man but goog luck to them,may they drive forth and multiply,they are
helping the poor are'nt they ?
Fight on ,,the ends justify the means
Look after the old folk and the less well off who can't afford to shop abroad. Technically it is illegal but morally it is right.
ReplyDeleteGot to add my kudos to the boys here. Easily the best smokers site on the interwebz.
With you there anon. We do exactly that
Delete"less well off who can't afford to shop abroad"
ReplyDeleteIts precisely the less well off who can't afford NOT to shop abroad. A lot of the regulars here aren't that well off- I've even publically thanked SH for helping me and mine get through this winter's Fuel Poverty- by his making Xbroder Shopping almost risk free. I've saved hundreds of ₤₤₤₤ this winter by buying abroad. I am the full time carer for my disabled wife and so live off state handouts...so money is tight.
The less well off ie those on benefits etc need to beg or borrow enough money to go...and it really isn't expensive. The trips SH has organised cost, i think, ₤12.50 a ticket (the 'two for ₤25' deal).
BD, the guys we take care off can afford to go but physically can't.
DeleteDearest Simon likes to accuse this site of being nasty and 'sticking the boot in' but his 'slamming' of the duty hikes was a masterful tour de force of hard hitting political invective!
ReplyDelete...oh alright, I'm joking. Actually the 'slam' was more a twistesque 'p-p-p-please Sir, m-m-m-ay we have another arse fucking?'.
He's scared shitless he'll upset his prospects for being a politician or radio presenter.
Delete"BD, the guys we take care off can afford to go but physically can't."
ReplyDeleteI've always wondered about the law- the EU law on that one. Surely to say that inorder to be 'duty free' goods must be transported by the purchaser is a clear discrimination against the disabled? It'd probably take a test case to go through all nation instances and then to Europe but I'd think it would be ruled that the disabled/aged/frail must be allowed to appoint an agent- ie to give someone the money to go get and pay their expenses.
That'd be one to fight if SH ever got serious funding.
I have a friend who is severly disabled and life expectancy is short. He took this 'discrimination against being able to purchase EU tobacco' to the various disabled groups. All he got back from them was advice on how to quit smoking as it could damage his health! ... l kid you not!
DeleteI agree with the concept to shop in the EEC and save money, But not all UK TAXPAYERS live within reasonable travel distance of a £5 ferry trip to France. The Scots and Northern Irish cant do day trips to Europe,,Even budget flights mean possibly two night hotel expenses.
ReplyDeleteBut still governed by the same 800 ciigs one kilo of baccy guidelines and frequent traveller suspicion, this nonsence brought in originally for the four times a day from Dover to France guy, but Scottish are branded FREQUENT TRAVELLERS if they go once a month to visit family.
DISCRIMINATION AGAINST THE JOCKS AND PADDY'S
"The Scots and Northern Irish cant do day trips to Europe,,Even budget flights mean possibly two night hotel expenses."
DeleteI know- actually i lived and worked in Scotland for a bit when I left school back in the 80's and am aware of the distances.
BUT if you were to go to,say, Penny Well Gardens or Castle Milk and offer the people there ₤1000 each cash in hand if they could get themselves to Zeebrugge or Adinkerke or Barcelona and back again...
Even if the travel costs were ₤200 each or so they'd be quids in. That's the key to it- people from the Outer Limits have to organise things better- ie travel as groups etc and BUY MORE.
OR the yearly holiday(s) destination should be a country where the tobacco products are cheap?
DeleteThe "SKED" Knew but said nothing. Thing is he dont read anything he rubber stamps............
ReplyDeleteGUILTY IF YOU DO HAVE.........AND GUILTY IF YOU DON'T HAVE
Just read this on Simons Blog!
ReplyDeleteHis comment on the budget for the Huffington Post.
"Meanwhile a substantial number of smokers are choosing quite legitimately to buy their tobacco abroad. Some of them are increasingly defiant about the fact that they are denying the Treasury a small fortune every year and word is getting around about the substantial savings that can be made."
Some are increasingly defiant?
Does he mean us?
He surely does!
Pity FOREST aren't defiant!
DeleteThe biggest problem with people on benefits getting their baccy from Belgium is the law on benefits; the moment you leave the shores of dear old Blighty your benefits cease and you have to re-sign when you return - to get benefits you must be actively seeking work, and part of the definition is that you must be within UK borders at all times to be able to do this.
ReplyDeleteComplete twaddle, of course, you can just as easily read a paper on a coach leaving Calais as in your armchair at home, complete a job application in a cafe in Adinkerke as your kitchen, or browse the web in Brugge as in Belfast.
Apparantly (so I am told, others may know more) you are allowed to travel abroad on a Sunday, as benefits are only paid on a Monday-Saturday working/benefits week, but don't quote me on that.
But surely this is a breach of the various EU rules and laws on the 'Free Movement of Labour'? If you can't look for work in Austria because of artificial financial restrictions, surely they are restricting your rights?
So can't you visit the benefits office and tell them you'll be away for a couple of days? Perhaps one could look at the jobs in Brugge at the same time?
DeleteYes SH, thats exactly what everyone on benefits does. Those on Income Support just email the benefits office and tell them they'll be gone for a day or so. Sometimes you'll even get a call back saying 'please don't bother telling us about short trips'- that's what happened to me last time. Under 4 weeks Income Support couldn't normally give a monkeys but I felt I had to have confirmation of this for my SOT...incase the UKBA said something like 'you are on benefits and haven't informed the Benefits Agency therefore you are a smuggler'.
DeleteFor those on income based JSA its a little trickier. Normally you just tell the Job Centre (or simply don't bother for a day trip although legally you should) and you sort out a 'rapid reclaim' in advance.
Its never been a problem.
But you guys are missing one of UKBA most obnoxious threat and intimidation "We can have your benifit stopped, or you can walk away now"
ReplyDeleteNot a lot of choice for a single mum with three kids to feed.
They tried it with my carer/companion but she told them to take a hike and do their worst
I am glad we touched on this subject, Lazzerini and the SKED stated that as I am living on the old age pension (Which I paid into for fifty years)
ReplyDeleteThen I could not possibly travel to Spain to visit family six times a year so I must be being sponsered by a tobacco seller to bring back tobacco and cigs.
The Judge whom I know to be six months older than I am, Remarked to Lazzerini that he was also in receipt of the old age pension.
LAZZ SHUT HIS GOB AFTER THAT,
I wonder why they lost the case
"But you guys are missing one of UKBA most obnoxious threat and intimidation "We can have your benifit stopped, or you can walk away now"
ReplyDeleteIf that single-Mom-with-three-kiddies you speak of follows SH's advice and RECORDS everything then the chances are, I would think, that the BF'er will not even make such a threat in the first place.
That's the magic of mp3. The Power of Phono compells them to play by the rules.
But you're right that this topic needs the SH touch. An 'yellow' page with spefic advice for benefit claimants might be a very good idea I feel...and what phrsaing they should add to their SOT's. I'll check on the EXACT law and let SH know so he can have a think.
Don't how true this is 'cos it's 3rd hand but I am told people are being allowed through airports, followed to their cars and then pounced on and having goods and car seized.
DeleteEezyrider
We've had no reports of it and we get lots of e-mails and calls regarding seizures on a daily basis. Main seizure reports being from Dover and Hull. The logistics of what you've heard would in our opinion be a legal nightmare. 'Allowed through'? ... as in having the interview? Then they'd have to make a decision to allow you through ... then reverse it? ... can't see it happening. 'Allowed through?' ... as in not checking your baggage? ... again can't see it happening. Many people are picked up from airports etc too. How do you follow someone from an airport? ...no, until someone can prove me otherwise l see this as an urban myth.
DeleteSH, I can't see it happening-not often anyways-purely from a manpower point of view. The BF staffing levels won't be any better than the UKBA I don't suppose. And i'd have doubts of about the BF's 'writ' beyond the port parameter. It'd then have to be a HMRC/UKBA or police operation- all of whom could legally pull you over to check for illcit goods and impound, I think.
ReplyDeleteProbably someone was stopped and 'failed' the A-J and the BF suspected he had a car. They then might have follow him out and impounded it I suppose. Something like that.
... or if he was on a train ... impound the train! :)
ReplyDeleteI know that it (or something very similar) happened a few years ago in Eastbourne.
ReplyDeleteFellow was waved through at Dover, no problem, no interview, when he got home both police and HMRC were waiting and arrested him.
No idea why it was done that way, and he was a fairly moderate-to-big baccy smuggler (supplying a fair-sized estate in Eastbourne, probably going over most weeks and coming back with a van-load of baccy).
Probably one of the few intelligence-led seizures made by HMRC, possibly why they wanted to involve local police? No idea.
I do know he lost his van, and at court was told that he would have faced imprisonment but his appeal for a non-custodial sentence was accepted as he had two young kids dependant on him and pled guilty (which he was).
can't see it ever happenning for a normal passanger, or even for a 'three kilo of GV for me mates down the pub' type of 'smuggler'.
They take police because they are terrified of being attacked by the locals and neighbours. They've been hated throughout history and it continues to this day.
DeletePersonally, I never quite relax til I'm out through the airport's automatic carpark barrier. That would be the logical ambush point. But I'm pretty sure that Customs are to lazy to bother. Nevertheless, it seems a good idea to keep the voice recorder running til you're well clear of the carpark!
ReplyDeleteThis thing about openly recording, making them behave themselves, is really quite significant. The original idea was to have some evidence in case of subsequent seizure, but it seems to be actually causing a drop in the number of seizures!
SH, (and the Dwarf), what have you unleashed?
You must be thinking about a 2bit airport Zaphod. l use Manchester and they ain't got a chance in hell of getting anyone like that. Theres just too many carparks and too many people all arriving at same time.
DeleteThe Bobi-FOI would indeed seem to indicate that the BF have already reacted to N2D and the 'RECORD' campaign and have -as a direct result of it- 'clarified' their guidance to their officers.
DeleteSH put the SBC FOI online in October last year and within a month UKBA had amended their guidance.
Just a coincidence surely?
I must comment on a prog about customs in Ireland. Pick TV chl 11 they let the woman through knowing she had a suitcase of cigarettes but tripped her at the car park barrier. Lifted the cigs, lifted the car and lifted the old girl as well and as Ireland is in the EEC I assume it was all above board and legal.
ReplyDeleteNever underestimate what this lot can do or are capable off
We never underestimate them. If the scenario above was repeated in UK we still need the interview etc etc. So no real worry.
DeleteSH An interesting siuuation occured lasst year in Southern Spain. A guy I know who lives the high life with his charming lady in a place called La Linia (the line) Just over the border from Gib. He has recruited women who work in Gib to bring their 200 Carton everytime they cross the border, When he has a good stock he travells to the Costa del Sol by bus and sells them to the British ex pats, and some tourists. Just north ot Sotogrande the Guardia Civil search the bus and enquires as to tthe owner of the suitcase crammed with Gib tobacco. No one owned up so the suitcase was loaded into the GCs Nissan jeep and gone Thing is no one argues with these guys.
Delete.... "No one owned up so the suitcase was loaded into the GCs Nissan jeep and gone" ... to be sold to British ex pats and some tourists! lol
DeleteOf the three Spanish law enforcement agencies the Gardia Civil are the worse paid. But more likely to be killed in the line of duty, At one time they were "FRANCO'S BOYS" but I have foun most open to negotiation and reasonable offer
Deleteespecially the "TRAFFICO DEPARTMENT" if its just a mild glass or two of Vino that is the issue
Not even me, they have sub machine guns and ichy fingers
ReplyDeleteJust got back from a trip to Brugge this morning no probs, customs good as gold stopped no one! Handed out some of the cards and spoke to many and mentioned the best site on the web!
ReplyDeletelfb
"Handed out some of the cards and spoke to many "
ReplyDeleteWell done! That's what 'we' need- people who will walk the walk and who get this vital message out to their fellow Smokers.
I was having a beer in a bar in Benidorm when the price rise came on the TV news.Fortunately right opposite a Tabac.
ReplyDeleteEven my wife,who doesn,t smoke,got some GV for me out of anger.
And bar-staff are openly plying the Gibraltar Trade Route,but I must admit it was the 1st Iv,e heard of it till a week ago.
There,s still a lot of people out there who think that the guidelines are Law,but 3 families are now much more well-informed thanks to a chat and a net-book....and this site,rightly said to be one of the best on the Internet.
Good for you Mr Mitfit and Jolly Benidorm fantastic, I love the place, I have some of SH advisory notices in bars posted at eye lever above the urinals in the Gents, I am working on having them didplayed on the back of the cubicil door in the Ladies, low down, READ AS YOUVE PEE'D.
DeleteSo Mr Misfit hope you got your legal property home OK and each puff is all the more satisfying knowing Osbourne is getting none of your money
ASH should be pleased that we're depriving them and the government of our tobacco taxes because as Andrew Lansley, well his minions, stated in reply to an e-mail I sent, the government do NOT want to ban tobacco and they DON'T CARE about reductions in tobacco revenue.
ReplyDeleteSo fellow EU tobacco buyers feel proud that you're doing exactly as the government and ASH want, reducing their revenue.
Below is part of the reply, the rest is the usual bullshit about SHS. Well it's all bullshit really otherwise we wouldn't have such extreme customs personnel.
--------------
Dear
Thank you for your email of 9 March to Andrew Lansley about smoking. I have been asked to reply.
Given 400 years of social acceptance of smoking in the Western world, the Department of Health does not believe that a ban on the sale and production of tobacco in the UK is a realistic way forward and will not support it. The Department believes that people should have the choice to smoke.
High levels of tax on tobacco is shown to reduce consumption, which reduces the economic burden to society. Revenue from tobacco duty is important, but reducing smoking is one of the Government's key health objectives. The Government makes no apologies for working to reduce smoking rates to improve health and wellbeing, even if this means reductions in tax revenue.
------------
Bullshit in spades.