Foot passenger to Calais, and cheap cigarettes

son_knee

Went to Barcelona a couple of weeks ago, cigarettes are 28 euros(approx. 20 pounds) from any of the tobacco shops.
If you were to get a cheap flight and accommodation then it may be worth it.

PeteMc

Cigs are €5 on average per packet here.

The law about carrying over 200 is very real and is being used by French Customs, mainly on Belgian Tobacco Alley visitors but they can apply it to anyone in the country as well. Customs have the power to stop and seize anywhere in France. Of course, they can't stop everybody.

As far contravention on EU regulations, yes they probably do but their attitude is go on take us to court.

hammy_the_hammer

i'd be extremely interested to see which 'law' they are using. i'd also like to see how they could apply it to non-french nationals travelling through france back to the uk. is their any evidence that this is no more than an urban myth ?

LesD

devon-gnome wrote:

...I have had only one
case of tobacco being confiscated by French Customs.
David Ash - Editor / Webmaster


So there's one reported confiscation. This may be worth watching for developments....

I suppose there are a few possibilities...

1...the customs officers have a brother/father/uncle/cousin (delete as applicable) with a Tabac in Calais and they were showing 'solidarity' with him!
2...the 'tobacco' was actually hand-rolled 'specials'!
3...the vehicle was overloaded (have you seen the state of some of the Transit vans?) and it was the only way the tobacco owners would be allowed to continue driving.
4...they weren't actually customs officers - just some locals who'd run out of fags.

As Mark Twain has often said, "Believe half of what you see and nothing of what you hear!"

PeteMc

hammy_the_hammer wrote:

i'd be extremely interested to see which 'law' they are using. i'd also like to see how they could apply it to non-french nationals travelling through france back to the uk. is their any evidence that this is no more than an urban myth ?

As I live in France I should know :rolleyes: . It doesn't matter if you are French, British or Peruvian, if you are in France you are subject to French laws and this is one of them.

LesD

PeteMc wrote:

As I live in France I should know :rolleyes: . It doesn't matter if you are French, British or Peruvian, if you are in France you are subject to French laws and this is one of them.

Yes, but WHAT law is it??? First it's the police involved, then it's the customs. As there is no customs post at the border between Belgium and France I'm struggling to understand what all the fuss is about.

Is it illegal to have more than 200 cigs in one's possession? Is it illegal to carry more than 200 cigs in a vehicle (that'll put a dent in the coach trips!)?

PeteMc

Sorry can't quote you the exact bill but effectively it prohibits a person carrying more than 200 cigarettes on their person/vehicle unless they are a delivery vehicle. Also there is a limit on how many cigarettes you can store in your home - 2000.

The Times covered this in October :
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-1846565,00.html

Customs here are also mobile force, they have the right to stop any vehicle anywhere in the country so EU border posts are largely irrelevant and they have a very large presence in Northern France. The police as far as I am aware have nothing to do with this.

But as I said earlier, they can't stop everyone.