# Hellpp!!



## neilf88 (Oct 23, 2010)

I wonder if anyone can help me. I recently went on holiday to spain. Within that time i drove to Gibraltar. I brought 400 cigs over the border not knowing that the limit was 200. To cut a long story short, i got stopped at the spanish border and had my hire car & cigs taken off me. My passport was logged, i was kept for hours and assaulted by the spanish patrol. In the end they let me go and i had to find my own way to my hotel ... by this time id missed my flight back to the uk.

A few weeks later i recieved a letter wrote in spanish. My cousin translated it. It said i broke the law/contraband and because of this i now owe the spanish 'agencia tributria' 600euro's.

My question is this... Until i pay the fine, is it a bad idea to fly to spain again or would i be kept by the spanish border police until i cough up?

Thanks Everyone


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

I dont know the answer, but you were unlucky cos I thought unless you had a significant amount of ciggies, they simply charged you the unpaid duty and then let you go on your way with the ciggies!????

Jo xxxx


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

neilf88 said:


> I wonder if anyone can help me. I recently went on holiday to spain. Within that time i drove to Gibraltar. I brought 400 cigs over the border not knowing that the limit was 200. To cut a long story short, i got stopped at the spanish border and had my hire car & cigs taken off me. My passport was logged, i was kept for hours and assaulted by the spanish patrol. In the end they let me go and i had to find my own way to my hotel ... by this time id missed my flight back to the uk.
> 
> A few weeks later i recieved a letter wrote in spanish. My cousin translated it. It said i broke the law/contraband and because of this i now owe the spanish 'agencia tributria' 600euro's.
> 
> ...


I doubt you're on the 'most wanted' list


but there's only one way to find out.......................


or cough up - which is what I would recommend


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## neilf88 (Oct 23, 2010)

i thought they would just charge you the duty aswel... so when i got stopped with my measley 400 ciggies... they would of just done that.

im suppose to be going back to spain in january but i dont know now :-(


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

neilf88 said:


> i thought they would just charge you the duty aswel... so when i got stopped with my measley 400 ciggies... they would of just done that.
> 
> im suppose to be going back to spain in january but i dont know now :-(


Take 600€ with you???????

Jo xxx


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

If you fly into Spain your passport barely gets looked, does it? I would have thought that the problem would be more if you want to go to Gibraltar again. If you do you need to pay the fine. I'm surprised at the treatment they gave you, but the fine is the fine and definitely needs to be paid if going back to Gib.


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## lynn (Sep 25, 2008)

xabiachica said:


> I doubt you're on the 'most wanted' list
> 
> 
> but there's only one way to find out.......................
> ...


Probably easier to do when you've smoked the ****!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

lynn said:


> Probably easier to do when you've smoked the ****!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


:clap2::spit::clap2::spit:


so glad I'm not drinking coffee


it's such a pain to get off the screen!!!!


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

When I had been here about a month I flew to Heathrow and back via Gibraltar. I went to buy a box of rolling tobacco for my OH and impressed by the low price, innocently bought five boxes. I then bought another box for my taxi driver who had crossed the border from La Linea on foot to help with my luggage. So....six boxes with five pouches in each.
I had three boxes in my bag, the taxi driver took a bag into which I had put the other three boxes. 
He looked slightly scruffy...maybe that's why the Customs guy stopped and searched him....and found the tobacco. I had gone through with my boxes but of course returned and explained the boxes were mine. I showed the other three boxes I had.
I explained I was ignorant of the rules and offered to pay the excess duty. The offer was accepted. My only complaint was that the Customs people had no credit card processing facilities so I had to walk into La Linea and back to get cash.
My passport number was noted but all concerned were polite.
But I learned a not-to-be-forgotten lesson and when I cross now to shop at Morrisons I stick to the prescribed limits for alcohol and tobacco.


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## gus-lopez (Jan 4, 2010)

There's plenty of people who've posted on other sites that they've done exactly the same , been charged the excess duty there & then + everything confiscated & have then received the 600€'s fine in the post in the UK or Spain. One of them even had his own car confiscated .


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## 90199 (Mar 21, 2010)

Have you ever thought of visiting Portugal


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

gus-lopez said:


> There's plenty of people who've posted on other sites that they've done exactly the same , been charged the excess duty there & then + everything confiscated & have then received the 600€'s fine in the post in the UK or Spain. One of them even had his own car confiscated .


So I was lucky.....I ended up paying the same for the tobacco as I would have done in our village shop.
What happens to the hire cars they confiscate?


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## gus-lopez (Jan 4, 2010)

mrypg9 said:


> So I was lucky.....I ended up paying the same for the tobacco as I would have done in our village shop.
> What happens to the hire cars they confiscate?


No idea , it's a wonder the hire company hasn't been on to the OP by now. In the UK if you were caught smuggling tobacco in your own car it was confiscated & sold at auction. That's why they used hire cars in the end as the police couldn't keep them , the hire co. just reclaimed them. Don't know if they then gave the bill to the hirer though.


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## xicoalc (Apr 20, 2010)

All seems a touch heavy for me - i mean I can understand if you were caught with 10,000 stuffed in every part of the car - but 200 too many? loco! I genuinly would have thought for such a small amount (1 pack) they would just charge you the duty, maybe give you a lecture and send you on your way. I'd have thought for just a small amount you may have got away with "sorry officer I didn't know"!

Interesting story!


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## dunmovin (Dec 19, 2008)

pay up, chalk it it up to experience.... and only buy cigs EU countries,wher they are cheaper than the UKand you can take back 3,000....... for personal use


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## mayotom (Nov 8, 2008)

*Its very simple if you do the crime you you do the time*, as many people have stated send the money. Somebody above said that you do not need to worry unless you are going back to Gibraltar(why anybody would is beyond me). Forget that statement, First of all you have been logged into the Spanish Border control system, therefore you can be detected at any entry point to Spain or its dependencies. Second of all you are logged into the Schengen Border control system, therefore you can theoretically be detected in 25 European countries(Soon to be 27).

If you were in England and had committed a crime would you start asking around about how to avoid paying, or just get over yourself and pay up?
What possessed you in the beginning anyway? you could have gotten your **** in Spain for less than Half what you would pay in the UK?

SO IN MY OPINION ONCE AGAIN JUST PAY UP


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## 90199 (Mar 21, 2010)

If you purchase here in the Canary Islands, the limit is 200 cigs etc. for importation into other parts of Europe. Although we are part of Europe, we are a special zone of exemption, so the restrictions apply here. 

However, I am informed, that if a resident of the Canary Islands makes a substantial purchase in say Spain and pays the full IGC, the difference can be re claimed once back in the Canaries.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

mayotom said:


> *Its very simple if you do the crime you you do the time*, as many people have stated send the money. Somebody above said that you do not need to worry unless you are going back to Gibraltar(why anybody would is beyond me). Forget that statement, First of all you have been logged into the Spanish Border control system, therefore you can be detected at any entry point to Spain or its dependencies. Second of all you are logged into the Schengen Border control system, therefore you can theoretically be detected in 25 European countries(Soon to be 27).
> 
> If you were in England and had committed a crime would you start asking around about how to avoid paying, or just get over yourself and pay up?
> What possessed you in the beginning anyway? you could have gotten your **** in Spain for less than Half what you would pay in the UK?
> ...



I tend to agree with you. When I bought tobacco over the limit it was a genuine mistake - I forgot that I had landed in a non-EU territory. I wasn't trying to deceive.
I know of someone -a British immigrant - who has been claiming Incapacity Benefit or whatever it's called now and who finances his trips to the UK for DHSS appointments by buying cigarettes in Gibraltar then selling them to friends in the UK. He was recently caught by Spanish customs officers at Malaga Airport and given a huge fine.
I was pleased. There's something grubby about smuggling cigarettes to avoid customs duty.
And as for lying in the sun in Spain whilst sponging off the UK taxpayer....I just can't find it within myself to shop him to the DHSS Hotline, alas.
It's not a British characteristic, snitching on people.


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## mayotom (Nov 8, 2008)

mrypg9 said:


> I tend to agree with you. When I bought tobacco over the limit it was a genuine mistake - I forgot that I had landed in a non-EU territory. I wasn't trying to deceive.
> I know of someone -a British immigrant - who has been claiming Incapacity Benefit or whatever it's called now and who finances his trips to the UK for DHSS appointments by buying cigarettes in Gibraltar then selling them to friends in the UK. He was recently caught by Spanish customs officers at Malaga Airport and given a huge fine.
> I was pleased. There's something grubby about smuggling cigarettes to avoid customs duty.
> And as for lying in the sun in Spain whilst sponging off the UK taxpayer....I just can't find it within myself to shop him to the DHSS Hotline, alas.
> It's not a British characteristic, snitching on people.



is there a reward for snitching on him, if so please send me his details and I will be happy to oblige, this is just not fair on the people who are having their taxes increased to pay for this sort of carry on.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

mayotom said:


> is there a reward for snitching on him, if so please send me his details and I will be happy to oblige, this is just not fair on the people who are having their taxes increased to pay for this sort of carry on.


No reward. But even if there were, I couldn't inform on him.
I just keep well out of sight and sound of him. Pity, as his wife is really nice.


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