News story
31st January 2002
MP tackles Treasury Minister over Vehicle Seizures by
Customs
Northavon MP Steve Webb has today joined a delegation
of Liberal Democrat MPs and MEPs to see Treasury
Minister, Paul Boateng, in an effort to get the
Government to rethink its policies on seizure of cars and
other vehicles by Customs officials. The meeting arose
after MPs received a series of complaints from
constituents about heavy-handed behaviour by customs
officials, seizing vehicles and presuming people to be
guilty of smuggling unless they can prove themselves
innocent.
Steve Webb personally took up the case of a haulage
firm based at Almondsbury [see below for details] who had
a lorry seized last July and who are still waiting for
the chance to present their case and to explain why they
believe the vehicle should not have been seized. Despite
repeated chasing, it took the Treasury nearly three
months even to reply to Steve Webb’s initial letter
on the issue.
Other cases raised at the meeting included people who had
cars worth £6,000 seized and retained by Customs when
the goods they were carrying were worth only a fraction
of that price. In some cases, cars are seized and then
destroyed to save Customs the cost of storage, even
before a Tribunal has determined whether any duty was
being evaded. The Lib Dem MPs said that they fully
supported the Government’s desire to crack down on
serious smuggling, but that the tactics being used
against private individuals were unjust and heavy-handed.
In response, Paul Boateng said that the tough approach
had succeeded in stabilising the proportion of the
tobacco market which was accounted for by smuggled goods,
and he told the MPs that Customs had made some very large
seizures in recent months.
Speaking after the meeting, Steve Webb said:
“No-one wants to defend large-scale organised
smuggling. But Customs time is instead being spent
persecuting individual travellers and treating them in a
way that defies natural justice. If people are accused of
avoiding duty, they should be charged in court and given
the opportunity to argue their case. The Government
should not simply assume people’s guilt and seize
their car by way of penalty. Customs are setting
themselves up as Police, Judge and Jury and this is no
way to carry on”.
*** ENDS ***
Note to editors: The haulage firm that has suffered
from the approach taken by Customs is Westfield
International Transport Ltd. of Almondsbury.
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