We've been in the UK for almost four months instead of the anticipated four weeks, so when some friends suggested a girlie weekend in Folkestone, with a Booze Cruise thrown in, I was all for it. We brought plenty of wine, cava, beer and vodka over, but it was never intended to last so long, and I was getting fed up with paying £4 or more for a bottle of reasonable wine.
After just 4 hours on the road, we were pulled over by a police motorcyclist and led to an inspection centre. There, the driver was fined £60 for flying two small Union Flags in the middle of the dashboard. The police said it was an obstruction - although it really wasn't - and, not content with that, they did a 'fine tooth comb' inspection of the rest of the vehicle.
On one of the hottest days of the year, we were ordered - and I do mean ordered - to remain seated. Nobody was allowed off the coach for any reason at all. By the time we were waved on our way, we were all wilting, and we couldn't help thinking that, had the driver been flying any other flag, we wouldn't have been stopped at all.
That was bad enough, and it briefly took the shine off the whole weekend, but what happened to another coach was even worse. When the coach came off the ferry at Dover, it was pulled over to the inspection shed, and three of the passengers were ordered off the coach, along with their purchases. Then they were each put in separate rooms, and kept waiting for almost an hour, without being told why they had been singled out.
None of the passengers had excessive amounts of alcohol and tobacco, and eventually, they were allowed to return to the coach and proceed with their journey, but each of them vowed they would never make the trip again, as they felt like criminals, even though they had done nothing wrong.
European law allows people to bring in as much duty paid alcohol and tobacco as they wish, as long as it is for personal consumption or gifts, yet the British Customs insist on issuing guidelines, and confiscating goods if people exceed their arbitrary limits. And they don't just confiscate the excess - it's all taken away.
I have no time for people who make a business out of buying and selling tobacco and alcohol illegally, but there's a simple answer to the problem. Cut the duty in Britain to continental levels, and then people won't bother going abroad for their supplies, and the smugglers will be put out of business. In fact, the Treasury would probably pull in more money that way.
It's wrong that people who want to enjoy a weekend away to buy cheap booze and fags should be treated like criminals, just so the authorities can catch the odd smuggler. Smugglers don't go on coach trips. On our coach - which was full - only one person had bought anywhere near the guideline amount of alcohol, and they had a family wedding coming up.
This culture of intimidation will have wider repercussions, because it will affect the business of coach companies, ferry companies and hotels, as more and more people decide that it just isn't worth the hassle for a few bottles of wine and some cheap tobacco.
