I know this is old ground but can someone tell me how many packs of tobbacco you are legally allowed to bring through customs?
20 pouches. But it’s just an advisory. Bring what you like of it’s all for yourself.
Expect hassle if you get tugged though.
when did the rule change from 3kg 30 pouches,i also heard that the french are getting tough on foreign drivers doing baccy runs ,but not been over for a while so may just be hearsay
Rules changed a couple of years back. French cops/customs are the same as ever. If your unlucky enough ( unlikely ) to get caught with more than 20 pouches your gonna lose em. But that’s been the same for years, generally they are not interested.
I know of people having problems transporting tobacco through France. the French are peed off they have missed out on tax money so are making it back by fining drivers who bring back an amount that is perfectly legal to return to the uk with.
The one at jnt1 at adinkerke sort of advises you on how much you can legally bring back,the other one at 1a will give you as much as you want 
I followed a guy in there about 2 weeks ago and you get these huge black bags,not the size of the bin liners but not far off!
He came out with 2 of them rammed with the stuff,nearly cleared the poor sod out of the brand he had in there.
Bring back as much as you want just don’t get caught. 
Steve Rogers:
I know this is old ground but can someone tell me how many packs of tobbacco you are legally allowed to bring through customs?
From the end of last year, I think it was, the advised limit for importing tobacco into UK was brought down to the Europe wide advised limit.
The advised personal allowance of tobacco is now 1kg.
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/customs/arriving/arrivingeu.htm is a link to the page.
(Scroll down a little way, there is a table).
You are only allowed to bring back 1x10pk if your a regular traveler, as one of our drivers found out, thought he was allowed 6x10pk, customs took 5 of them off him.
joemoore2:
You are only allowed to bring back 1x10pk if your a regular traveler, as one of our drivers found out, thought he was allowed 6x10pk, customs took 5 of them off him.
Your allowed 1KG, they (customs) can’t decide that your a regular traveller and say you can only bring 1 sleeve! The limit is 1Kg which is 20 pouches for all travellers at any one time.
I mostly bring 4 (2kg) and if I’m stopped and asked I’m honest with them, they never take them. Once they know your being honest and not trying 2 smuggle large amounts they turn a blind eye.
However I do set myself some rules:
#1. Never bring different types (brands)
#2. Dont bring more than 1kg if I have wine or cigarettes
#3. Always be honest with them.
(there only doin their job, which is to stop smuggling!)
The following I have only heard second hand so I don’t know how true it is.
If you have six bales (3kg) and your stopped for the first time they will give you a warning (a yellow card, if you like)
If they stop you again within a certain period (3 months I’m told) they take it all off you.
If they stop you a third time you loose it and get a fine, your truck is impounded until the fine is paid!
The following is fact as it know the guy personally.
He had 8 kg (16 bales) was stopped at Dover, they held him there for 11 hours, fined him €2500.00 and took the truck apart.
He was asked initially if he had any alcohol or tobacco? He replied no.
Now I don’t know if it’d have made a difference had he said yes!!!
I used to bring the usual “allowed” amount from Spain to UK. No issues in the UK. However French Customs (Dieppe) were not happy that I had no proper INVOICE from Spain and only my Visa card receipt. That was all I had to prove it was EU purchased. Not good enough as far as they were concerned but did not take anything off me.
Are the Dieppe Douanes still banging on the cab door when you have the cab curtains over for a pre-ferry snooze■■?
toby1234abc:
Are the Dieppe Douanes still banging on the cab door when you have the cab curtains over for a pre-ferry snooze■■?
Dounes do this all over France, not just at Dieppe.
rubberfluck:
joemoore2:
You are only allowed to bring back 1x10pk if your a regular traveler, as one of our drivers found out, thought he was allowed 6x10pk, customs took 5 of them off him.Your allowed 1KG, they (customs) can’t decide that your a regular traveller and say you can only bring 1 sleeve! The limit is 1Kg which is 20 pouches for all travellers at any one time.
All customs need to do is enter your passport no. into their computer and they will know instantly whether you are a regular traveller or not. I had an inspection by French customs at Calais 1st week September this year, I had 60 pouches cutters choice, no probs whatsoever.
The use of that word Limit/s is a misconception there are NO limits on the quantity of alcoholic & tobacco products those figures that came in from oct 11 are new guidelines not a limit , in other words if you are bringing more than the amount in the recommended guidelines , we are entitled to question you about it, but if they don’t accept that all of it is for your personal consumption they are able to seize it along with the vehicle used to carry it
So example if i had not been over in euroland for say 12ths and i bought a full box of bensons or G &V rolling tobac , then i got stopped by ukba yes there’s every chance that they would seize both goods and vehicle , but after raising objections and insisting on going to court and 99.9% winning in court , they would have to cough up what they seized or compensate me for it as they would be acting illegally they have to have sufficient grounds to seize it,
But on the other hand if i had lots of different brands not a chance , that in it’s self says I’m buying to order
And if you think about it a box of cigs contains 5000 thats only 25 sleeves of 200, smoking at the rate of 140 to 200 each week is only around 6mths supply so 2 boxes would be a years supply i personally don’t feel that that amount of the same brand would be an unreasonable amount for an individual to buy from any country within the EEC and bring them into their home country to consume, if they are not making regular trips to Europe and beyond, But try reasoning with the ukba gestapo , that seem to enjoy misleading people and making up the rules as they go along, probably on the say so of the government
Hombre,that is true,i would see random controls,where you would not expect to see a full scale control,in a rural area,in the middle of the night,at the side of a dual carriegway,i even saw them all on a roundabout.