Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
say HMRC
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Public warned of car boot criminals this Easter.
Local people are being warned by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) to be on the look out for traders selling counterfeit and smuggled cigarettes as the car boot season gets underway this Easter.
Low cost tobacco products can often seem like an attractive offer to local people, lured into purchasing them at what seem like bargain prices. However, the truth is these sales are unlicensed and unregulated. Those involved are not concerned if they are selling to children and underage young people. In addition, with expertly crafted packaging it is almost impossible to spot whether the cigarettes are counterfeit. Like any other counterfeit product, individuals don't know exactly what they are buying.
Bob Gaiger, Spokesman for HMRC said:
"With an estimated £2 billion in revenue being drained from the public purse each year by tobacco smugglers alone, the problem of excise fraud is a real one, which we are determined to crack."
"This is not an innocent or victimless crime but one that encourages otherwise honest people to trade with criminals. We have active and effective teams of officers operating across the South East to disrupt this illicit trade which has a devastating impact on legitimate retailers having to compete against these black market traders. The gangs behind this form of criminality reap huge profits from cigarette sales which are ploughed straight back into the criminal underworld, feeding activities like drug dealing and fraud."
He added: "We are keen to work closely with local people and communities in the fight against this type of crime. We would encourage anyone who knows of someone selling cheap or duty free cigarettes and tobacco at car boot sales and markets or from their house or place of work to contact the Customs hotline on 0800 59 5000 or email
customs.hotline@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk "
illicit dealer....
Guest 674- Registered: 25 Jun 2008
- Posts: 3,391
paulb
to be fair, hoverspeed as a business encouraged bootlegging when ikt was in there prime, avoiding customs by delivering to the door!
bootleggers had a field day.
but hey, time moves on, hoverspeed is no more here, and customs still on the lookout
Guest 672- Registered: 3 Jun 2008
- Posts: 2,119
I don't agree with bootlegging at all or all of the problems that go with it but what I do find hard to get my head around is...............
The government are encouraging us all to kick the habit, bootleggers are costing the revenue 2 billion a year, so what happens If we all packed in smoking? how many billion would they lose then?
Looks to me like smokers are keeping the country afloat and what do they do? kick us all outside like leppers
Fags, booze, illegal arms, drugs. you will always have some clown trying to make a fast buck out of it.
grass grows by the inches but dies by the feet.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
incorrect keith.
hoverspeed successfully prosecuted H.M. customs in the high court for confiscating legally purchased cigarettes from bona fide passengers that did not exceed the limit.
bootlegging is a completely different issue.
Guest 693- Registered: 12 Nov 2009
- Posts: 1,266
If duty were at a half sensible rate, bootlegging would vanish overnight. Government greed lies at the root of it all. Vote them out. Vote Matcham!
True friends stab you in the front.
Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
You make an interesting observation there Ian. The Government are indeed encouraging us to give up smoking but nevertheless enjoy the benefits of heavily taxing those that do smoke. A sort of bitter irony there.
But two things ..
any shortfall in taxation if, heavens, the public stopped puffing away, would be made up in other streams you can bet your life on that one. Booze would go up, petrol would go up and so on so forth ad infinitum. They the government would also benefit with a kind of hand wringing glee, by saving the vast amount of money the NHS spends having to care for the victims.
The second point is directly in relation to the above press release...you as Joe Citizen are already Im sure paying more taxation yourself somewhere along the line because the smugglers importing on a grand scale is affecting the governments income. They have to get the £2billion shortfall somewhere and Ian Lillfords pocket is a good place to start.
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
If the smokers want to kill themselves with poison, thats fair enough, as long as they help reduce the deficit while coughing their lives away.
Personally I much prefer indirect taxation to direct taxation.
Firstly there is a lot less opportunity for people to avoid tax by working 'cash in hand'.
Secondly it provides a disincentive for me to do things which are bad for me and the planet i.e.smoking, drinking and driving an unnecessarily large car, and encourages saving rather than spending (which we, as a country, don't seem very good at).
Guest 674- Registered: 25 Jun 2008
- Posts: 3,391
HOWARD
No, not wrong, in the case to which you refer indeed hovespeed won the case
but during the bootlegging days, believe me hoverspeed openly helped the bootlegging industry.
I know i dealt with it first hand
not the bootlegging lol
Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
i have herd of these bargin basement fags and baccy at some boot fairs.but never come across one,but me being me i would ask the person to open two or three ramdom packets just to make sure iwasnt being duped.if i dont like what i see i would walk away leaving the seller with unsalable packets.
Firstly, let's correct a general misconception. The NHS is massively subsidised by smokers. Sure, they cost millions to deal with, but they contribute far in excess of their cost.
Secondly, I agree 100% with the statement that Government greed is the route cause of the bootlegging business.
With petrol prices rising fast, and sure to incur more duty in the budget, we are getting close to seing th start of bootlegging there to. As Martin Husk keeps telling us, high fuel duties have killed the UK road transport industry. It's only a matter of time before we see a black market in cheap foreign fuel here. Even more so when we see Tesco here chsrgiong 115pl, Tesco Folkestone 118pl and Morrosons Canterbury 113pl. Fols will noly tak so much profiteering by the retail outlets and HMRC.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
can you explain that keith about how hoverspeed helped the boot legging industry?
incidentally why were the customs at western docks hauled over the coals, the eastern docks seemd to have no prob lem with much larger volumes of people.
Guest 674- Registered: 25 Jun 2008
- Posts: 3,391
probably for legal reasons best to leave this one
No come on Keith, u made a statement here. Get cracking we are all waiting....
Holding our breath..........inhaling deeply.........
email: dover7@msn.com
