Can anyone explain the amount of dodgy uk trucks in Calais at the moment. At All4trucks tonight there must be 30 old uk trucks, some still on uk plates - no ops disc - with tatty trailers. They are constantly in and out. Are there legal trucks running loads out to them as they daren’t set foot back in the uk!
A lot of UK guys driving them along with the normal RO, BG’s.
Not bothered too much as they’re not affecting me, but curious!! Is there still opportunities in exporting and importing beer/wine by the truckload?
dogthehunter:
Yes mate still at the beer/wine jobs … you’ll notice them jump ferry queues etc to avoid customs
Always thought most of them are so tatty they deserve to get pulled !
Thanks. Spoke to a few of them in the past year and they’re all evasive when asked about their job, but perhaps I am too nosey! A lot of them run out of tilbury for an English guy.
I did it for a while …money is awesome but it’s a massive risk …you could have lorry trailer impounded at Dover at 2am in the pouring rain be kicked out and if you live miles from Dover your stuffed etc plus a court hearing fines conviction etc
dogthehunter:
Yes mate still at the beer/wine jobs … you’ll notice them jump ferry queues etc to avoid customs
Always thought most of them are so tatty they deserve to get pulled !
Thanks. Spoke to a few of them in the past year and they’re all evasive when asked about their job, but perhaps I am too nosey! A lot of them run out of tilbury for an English guy.
Thats interesting
Mate of mine was doing this “type” of work a fair while back, think it was mid 2000s and a lot of it was Tilbury based, sort of
He was on fantastic money, and offered me an in, but not for me because as Dog pointed out, it could be proper iffy. My mate the soppy sod got raided at home 1 morning at 5am by HMRC. They showed him and told him most of what he’d been doing the previous few weeks and he was among several arrested. Think it all topped and tailed that it went to a big court hearing up in Liverpool but on the day, “somehow” it all got thrown out. This was the exact same case that ended up on Panorama and if memory serves me right i think 1 or 2 of the very top bods at customs were involved in the whole scam. Think it also involved L.C.B at Tilbury docks. Think 1 of the owners/bosses there was involved with or had the “dodgy” customs suits over a barrel It was all very cloak and dagger. Funnily enough never did hear what happened to the dodgy customs suits, how bizarre eh Guess they are probably in some other cushy government office by now.
The collapse of a trial in Liverpool against 15 defendants accused of conspiracy to cheat Customs out of millions of pounds in spirits and beer taxes.
The collapse compromised 28 different investigations, and eventually led to 109 defendants having convictions quashed or evidence against them withdrawn.
A High Court judge who reviewed the case cleared Customs officers of trying to entrap criminals but called for reform of the criminal justice system to handle sophisticated tax fraud, warning that it has not been effective.
The report said that a vital element in restoring confidence in the Customs service would be the assurance that independent lawyers could conduct prosecutions.
Cost: As well as losing £668m in taxes, Customs spent £14.3m on wasted prosecutions, £3.5m in wasted investigations, and still faces the compensation bill from wrongly convicted or charged defendants."
The Customs were reorganised following this and other failures in prosecutions. Don`t know how many lost their jobs over it all?
Franglais:
From The Guardian:
"LONDON CITY BOND, 2002
The collapse of a trial in Liverpool against 15 defendants accused of conspiracy to cheat Customs out of millions of pounds in spirits and beer taxes.
The collapse compromised 28 different investigations, and eventually led to 109 defendants having convictions quashed or evidence against them withdrawn.
A High Court judge who reviewed the case cleared Customs officers of trying to entrap criminals but called for reform of the criminal justice system to handle sophisticated tax fraud, warning that it has not been effective.
The report said that a vital element in restoring confidence in the Customs service would be the assurance that independent lawyers could conduct prosecutions.
Cost: As well as losing £668m in taxes, Customs spent £14.3m on wasted prosecutions, £3.5m in wasted investigations, and still faces the compensation bill from wrongly convicted or charged defendants."
The Customs were reorganised following this and other failures in prosecutions. Don`t know how many lost their jobs over it all?
Thankyou sir, thats the 1
I know my mate was only expecting a one way trip of freedom to Liverpool that day. They were all gobsmacked when it got thrown out and they were all free to go
Funny eh, how 1 or 2 of the top suits at HMRC were “maybe” in on the whole illegal scam, and on the day everything collapses in court and no one faces any charges, prosecution, etc. I remember the Panorama program certainly made for interesting viewing. I’d love to know what happened to the dodgy suits at HMRC? Who said crime doesn’t pay
WELL BUGGER ME.
Just did a real quick basic look on tinternet, and turns out the head of HMRC at that time and 2 other high ranking officials were to be investigated by the police. Turns out the then head of HMRC was/is a SIR, and was CEO of Tesco during their dodgy accounting years recently when all their figures didn’t quite add up He has also been deputy chairman and senior independent director of Barclays plc from 2003-2011 and a non exec director of Arriva plc from 2004-2010.
Although there is nothing on “wikipedia”, (believe what you will?) about SIR Richard Broadbent and the whole London City Bond thing, dig a little deeper and he certainly appears to have a somewhat murky past Funny that eh!
It was all very cloak and dagger. Funnily enough never did hear what happened to the dodgy customs suits, how bizarre eh 
Guess they are probably in some other cushy government office by now.