Uk Border customs stripped my car with no VALID reason
Discussion
Back in the 80s I'd just bought a brand new Peugeot 205GTi 1.6. Gunmetal, red carpets. It was the dog's danglies. I loved it. European roadtrip was required. I phoned a mate in the Army and found out he and a couple of chaps from his regiment were heading back to Wolfenbüttel. Excellent excuse. I bought a weekend return ferry ticket and off we went. We arrived to find he had to do to West Berlin, so I drove there too. Then drove back through the night to catch the last possible ferry.
Coming off, I was stopped at customs.
"Where have you been, son?"
"France, Belgium, West Germany, East Germany, West Berlin and back again"
"How long have you been gone?"
"60 hours"
"Riiiight"
"What did you buy?"
"Nothing - no time to do any shopping"
At this point he has me out of the car and is opening everything he can find. He then starts tapping the body panels as one of his colleagues goes through my bags. I was petrified that my brand new car was about to be ripped apart. Thankfully they found the military orders that enabled me to take my mate to West Berlin and they calmed down and let me on my way.
He told me that they were about to start removing panels and then I'd have to reassemble it after they were done.
My sphincter clenches every time I drive through a customs post.
Coming off, I was stopped at customs.
"Where have you been, son?"
"France, Belgium, West Germany, East Germany, West Berlin and back again"
"How long have you been gone?"
"60 hours"
"Riiiight"
"What did you buy?"
"Nothing - no time to do any shopping"
At this point he has me out of the car and is opening everything he can find. He then starts tapping the body panels as one of his colleagues goes through my bags. I was petrified that my brand new car was about to be ripped apart. Thankfully they found the military orders that enabled me to take my mate to West Berlin and they calmed down and let me on my way.
He told me that they were about to start removing panels and then I'd have to reassemble it after they were done.
My sphincter clenches every time I drive through a customs post.
jimPH said:
I'm a frequent flyer, the only time I've ever been stopped is when I brought some giraffes over from Africa. I was quite amused by this as I couldn't think of anything more ridiculous than smuggling drugs in a 3ft giraffe.
Wooden?Liverpool Museum had an exhibition on smuggling, loads of wooden ornaments had drugs installed in them.
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