A fun event where one takes a family car to a port in southern England, hops the channel by ferry or chunnel, loads up the car with alcohol and tobbacco (which is much cheaper on the continent due to the lower tax), refuels the car (fuel again is cheaper), then heads home. Much of the goods will be sold down the pub.
Gordon Brown was yesterday given two months to drop "severe and intrusive" sanctions against cross-Channel shoppers who fall foul of Government limits on cheap alcohol and cigarettes.
The European Commission threatened to refer Britain to the European Court of Justice unless it abandons the "disproportionate" methods used by Customs and Excise to stop what they claim is tax evasion.
The decision is an embarrassing blow to the Chancellor, who has been at odds with Brussels for years over the way he interprets European single market regulations that allow European Union citizens to move goods freely across borders.
Mr Brown hit back last night by accusing Brussels of being "misguided" and insisting that he would "not take lectures" from a commission that had tried to force Britain to impose VAT on children's clothes.
In an angry exchange of press statements, he accused the commissioner responsible of being obsessed with "spin" and an enemy of the British tourist.
"Fritz Bolkestein just wheels out this same spin twice a year - pretending to be the friend of the British tourist - once before the summer holidays and once before the Christmas booze cruises. It is a cynical worn-out ploy to obtain a good day's coverage in the British press, and everyone should see through it for what it is," a spokesman for the Chancellor said.
But the Treasury's insistence that "we fully support British shoppers rights to bring back as much tobacco and alcohol as they like from the Continent for their own consumption" will ring hollow with many travellers.
There have been numerous complaints from cross-Channel shoppers who claim that they were unfairly criminalised and their cars confiscated for bringing in quantities of alcohol or tobacco bought for personal use.
The Treasury says it is entitled to take draconian action against those who take advantage of lower prices across the Channel to bypass British excise duty. Last year Customs confiscated 8,000 vehicles. Tax revenues from drink and tobacco sales have slumped by £4 billion a year, in part as a result of cheap imports that are sold illegally through pubs and shops.
Mr Bolkestein, the EU commissioner in charge of tax policy, issued a stinging condemnation of the way Customs and Excise - which is run by the Treasury - treats British consumers. He called on the Treasury to find other ways of enforcing the rules that require that all alcohol and tobacco brought in be for personal use.
"The UK sanctions, which are based on the seizure of goods, and sometimes cars, quite often go too far and interfere with people exercising the rights given to them by the EU's internal market to go shopping in other member states. This is obviously not acceptable," he said.
The statement from the commission announcing the decision to issue a "reasoned opinion" - effectively a "change or else" ultimatum - made clear that Brussels has come down heavily in favour of the consumer and against the Government.
Under EU rules, up to 800 cigarettes, 90 litres of wine and 110 litres of beer should be considered for personal use.
---The telegraph
The European Commission threatened to refer Britain to the European Court of Justice unless it abandons the "disproportionate" methods used by Customs and Excise to stop what they claim is tax evasion.
The decision is an embarrassing blow to the Chancellor, who has been at odds with Brussels for years over the way he interprets European single market regulations that allow European Union citizens to move goods freely across borders.
Mr Brown hit back last night by accusing Brussels of being "misguided" and insisting that he would "not take lectures" from a commission that had tried to force Britain to impose VAT on children's clothes.
In an angry exchange of press statements, he accused the commissioner responsible of being obsessed with "spin" and an enemy of the British tourist.
"Fritz Bolkestein just wheels out this same spin twice a year - pretending to be the friend of the British tourist - once before the summer holidays and once before the Christmas booze cruises. It is a cynical worn-out ploy to obtain a good day's coverage in the British press, and everyone should see through it for what it is," a spokesman for the Chancellor said.
But the Treasury's insistence that "we fully support British shoppers rights to bring back as much tobacco and alcohol as they like from the Continent for their own consumption" will ring hollow with many travellers.
There have been numerous complaints from cross-Channel shoppers who claim that they were unfairly criminalised and their cars confiscated for bringing in quantities of alcohol or tobacco bought for personal use.
The Treasury says it is entitled to take draconian action against those who take advantage of lower prices across the Channel to bypass British excise duty. Last year Customs confiscated 8,000 vehicles. Tax revenues from drink and tobacco sales have slumped by £4 billion a year, in part as a result of cheap imports that are sold illegally through pubs and shops.
Mr Bolkestein, the EU commissioner in charge of tax policy, issued a stinging condemnation of the way Customs and Excise - which is run by the Treasury - treats British consumers. He called on the Treasury to find other ways of enforcing the rules that require that all alcohol and tobacco brought in be for personal use.
"The UK sanctions, which are based on the seizure of goods, and sometimes cars, quite often go too far and interfere with people exercising the rights given to them by the EU's internal market to go shopping in other member states. This is obviously not acceptable," he said.
The statement from the commission announcing the decision to issue a "reasoned opinion" - effectively a "change or else" ultimatum - made clear that Brussels has come down heavily in favour of the consumer and against the Government.
Under EU rules, up to 800 cigarettes, 90 litres of wine and 110 litres of beer should be considered for personal use.
---The telegraph
by Kung-Fu Jesus July 24, 2004
by Kung-Fu Jesus April 18, 2004
(Sarcastic idiom) When a grunt, that is, someone lower or equal to your standing, loudly expells massive braggadocio about a rudimentary action they have taken and succeeded in (or an action that the party using this idiom wishes to denounce as simple and childish), this phrase is brought out to denounce thier "crowning achievement".
A: I can run a mile in 5 minutes, swim the english channel, run accross africa in six weeks, bench 300 lbs, shoot a squirrels' eye from a half a mile, KO a bull in one punch and...
B: So what? You're a fag, do you want a medal for that too?
B: So what? You're a fag, do you want a medal for that too?
by Kung-Fu Jesus May 07, 2004
by Kung-Fu Jesus May 02, 2004
all your no fly zone are belong to US
by Kung-Fu Jesus May 09, 2004
by Kung-Fu Jesus April 18, 2004
Accent found on the borders of the two main territories of the UK- England and Scotland. Whether the speaker is from either is irrelevant, the accent is the same. A cross between geordie and scottish accents.
by Kung-Fu Jesus April 20, 2004