Hi, have had a truck stopped tonight in Dover by Customs and they require the trailer to be tipped, however, you have to pay Freight Services to tip the trailer.
My question ! what’s the legal position regarding this because I pointed out to customs that (1) if they find any contraband on the trailer that should not be there, then they will confiscate the unit and trailer (2) if they don’t anything then I have had to pay anywhere between £300 and £700 for freight services to unload a trailer that i did not agree to in the first place.
I informed Dover customs that I will not pay these charges because it’s like
"have your cake and eat it " but I will however contact the company who’s goods are on the trailer but they are not available till 8am tomorrow morning to see if they will pay the charges.
Accordingly, customs have clamped the vehicle. if I end up paying for this, what’s the chances of suing Customs ?
Good Morning JJSL,
As a company we come across this situation from time to time and although I do understand your feelings I now take the view that its better to pay the costs and get the truck on its way than argue the point.
I will say now that as most goods we carry are of a perishable nature with shelf life issues it is rather more pressing to resolve any issues.
Our costs in the past have always been realistic and nothing like the amounts you mention.
You would need very deep pockets to sue Customs in this matter and I am sure they know their rights as well.
I did try the tack some years ago with them that if the trailer is not carrying anytihng illegal then they pay… If it was… then I would pay.
A curt not possible was the answer.
I wish you well and hope it resolves itself soon. Regards
you could try asking them to sign your cmr 
then drive out empty 
this happened a few times when i drove for glebdale. if you have to pay well thats your profit gone 
do they charge coach drivers when they are stopped and unloaded
had the same at portsmouth last year.
had a load of oranges on from seville.
customs told me of the charge too offload, phoned my boss, you can imagine what he said. customs said i was free too go with unit, but trailer stays, untill its been checked, and if the fridge ran out of diesel, they would not refil it, and get it running. 4 hours, and several calls later, my gaffer had too cough up.
customs took half a load of, via a forklift driver, from port services, had a look, half hour later, load was back on, and i was off again.
my boss did get the money back from the grower/buyer in spain, apparently they are used too it.
bit of a bitter pill too swallow though.
i honestly thought it was free if they found nothing within the load - bloody cheek 
dunno now but last time i paid to have them move stuff around (at our request) it was much lower than 300 quid, but it is a few years ago now
This has also happened to me in the past, “need to unload it all driver” was told that my company had to foot the bill, no choice but to comply so I spent 20 mins starting to strip the tilt when I was informed that they didn’t want to search the trailer and I could go - just plain bumholes in my opinion, I have had my own little victories since though, when they want to search the cab I insist that they don’t use a dog “sorry but I am allergic” and that they wear gloves (don’t know what they have been handling) and leave things as they find them - clothes, towels etc and please don’t put your feet on the seats officer - can you find a cover first? It took longer for me (and them) but made me feel better.
Thought it only happened to me.
Usually ship in through Portsmouth or Poole and have trailer searches at both.
Poole Port Services will unload trailer for customs inspection with no charge to the company.
Last time I got a pull at Portsmouth (about 2 years ago) I was given the option of paying £250 to have it unloaded or to do it myself with an electric pallet truck which was kept on the bay for that purpose. I opted for the DIY option since it was only lettuce.
I agree it is grossly unfair to charge the company and that if they wish to inspect the load then they should stand the cost.
Just another way to shaft the truck driver/owner/operator, could you imagine the furore that’d be created if they tried charging airline passengers for searching their luggage? Do immigration charge for searching your trailer?
Many thanks for all the reply’s, they started unloading the trailer at 0945 after the customer agreed to pay and finished reloading at 1330. they found nothing on the trailer and let the unit and trailer leave at 1415hours after customs finished the paper work and resealed the trailer. The cost from FSA £450
I think that I will issue a county court summons and see what happens, it’s not very expensive to do it this way and after asking customs under which section of the customs and excise act this was covered, they replied ■■? So lets see what defence they come up with and then we will all know if it’s possible to reclaim our costs or not.
Regards
JJSL
JJSL:
Many thanks for all the reply’s, they started unloading the trailer at 0945 after the customer agreed to pay and finished reloading at 1330. they found nothing on the trailer and let the unit and trailer leave at 1415hours after customs finished the paper work and resealed the trailer. The cost from FSA £450
I think that I will issue a county court summons and see what happens, it’s not very expensive to do it this way and after asking customs under which section of the customs and excise act this was covered, they replied ■■? So lets see what defence they come up with and then we will all know if it’s possible to reclaim our costs or not.Regards
JJSL
be interesting too see the outcome, if you do this.
didnt they used to levy a charge to every freey ticket for this at dover ?,but i was told at portsmouth when i needed a strip out at our cost it was then £25 per hour cica 1990 that as porthsmouth was run by the local council thats why they charged there, and not dover looks like its all changed now at dover
Last time I was ‘emptied’ was at Newhaven and no mention of any charge was made, like many others I’ve always assumed that if nothing was found the costs had to be covered by HMRC.
Don’t those scum sucking to55ers love to find a way of passing costs on to someone else, like the haulier and why not eh? we’re the ones responsible for everything else that happens so why not this as well? 
Ross.