It’s been a while since I have had the time to write the final chapter to this sorry tale – a mixture of workload during the summer of 2010 (and boy, was it a busy and successful one!) and the fact that the story has only just reached its conclusion
The reason being is that, after all the preparations made to take the car out of the country, and the evidence provided for same, the Portuguese authorities have only just, five months later almost accepted that it has ‘gone’ (well sort of, but you’ll have to scroll down to the end for the twist in the tale)
So to recap, we were ordered to deport the vehicle within 14 days. We specified the border (as required), the date (as required) and time (as required) and provided all this information to the customs. Having crossed this border many times, and never having seen anyone in authority on the border (the EU’s premise is after all a continent without borders amongst its member states (not that it applies this ethos to the moving of cars from country to country!) I made enquiries, and was assured, that in this instance there would be someone at the border to make the necessary stamps to prove that the had been exported. I was still unconvinced that anyone in authority was going to make their way to the border on a Sunday but Customs assured me they would.
So, on a bright sunny Sunday morning Nick set off with said car off to specified border. He arrives. No one is at the customs office (and by the look of the place there hadn’t been anyone there for years if the cob webs and rusty door lock were anything to go by). He searches around and finds an immigration officer asleep in the sun. Said immigration officer can’t help (‘more than my job’s worth’ is particularly prevalent in the public services in Portugal). Nick calls me and I advise that he puts export documentation under door of office, and takes a photo . ‘Jobs Worth’ won’t participate so Nick (who is no photographer at the best of times) manages to take the photo of ’the act’ from behind – not easy when you’re on your own but he manages it anyway.
I call lawyer and email her to document the above activity. Her view is that we should ensure that there is an ‘official’ stamp on the copy of the export documentation on entry to the UK by a UK customs officer. Why they should be convinced to sign something in a language that they don’t understand and on a matter that is absolutely nothing to do with them is beyond me (especially as their Portuguese counterparts wouldn’t accept the English on the V5 stating that it is not proof of ownership – the issue that started all of this).
So, just to be sure, on the trip up through Spain, and France various photographs were taken of the ‘orangemobile’ enroute and indeed on arrival at, and loading of, and storage of car on the ferry.
On arrival at Dover Nick joins the queue ‘something to declare’ (although with the length of the queue and with the speed with which it progressed, I’m surprised anyone bothers) and finally came in front a UK Borders and Immigration officer (or whatever they are called nowadays). Anyway, after lengthy explanation and production of documention, Customs would have nothing to do with it. It wasn’t in a language that he understood, and wasn’t a matter on which he had any interest in anyway (his main foci no doubt relating to those issues where targets/bonuses were payable on). He suggested Nick went to the local police station. Another queue, another wait, same answer.
So, with one more photo of the car on the White Cliffs (could there be a more quintessential shot of a vehicle reaching home?) off Nick drove to Bedford (further photo outside of his offices – all date stamped of course!) , had the car cleaned up ready for sale. We had in fact sold it on ebay for a good price – but see postscript below!
Nick sends me the photos. I send them to the lawyer. She forwards them to the Customs. Process complete (or so you would think)
But no. Customs refused to believe car had been exported – the documention hadn’t been found at the ‘customs’ office (there’s a surprise) and therefore, despite the photographic evidence, the car was deemed still in Portugal. No responsibility that their official wasn’t at the stated place at the stated time with the onus remaining on us to prove that the car had been exported (and the evidence provided not being enough). Catch 22.
So what does a girl do? Sits and waits for the letters demanding payments upwards of 25000 euros plus fines to arrive
And guess what? To date, at the time of writing five months later, nothing has arrived. So what was all the fuss about?
The story had a bitter sweet ending though as far as the Customs were concerned. Out of all the people across Europe who could have bought the car off of Ebay (and there was a lot of interest from Germany, Spain and Scandinavia and even Russia (it turned out the car was a collectors’ item unbeknown to me) it was purchased by a very nice man 10 miles from the office in Bedford. And what was he going to do with – drive it straight back down to Vale do Lobo in Portugal where he had a holiday home. But, as he’s not a resident (and therefore doesn’t pay his taxes in Portugal) HE is allowed to keep it down here (at least for 6 months of the year). Indeed, I took some clients up that end of the Algarve recently and there was my car (a bright orange G4 Freelander is pretty difficult to miss!) standing proudly at the entrance to Vale do Lobo golf course.
Something is DEFINTIELY wrong with the system – you pay your taxes in Portugal, bring much needed revenue to the country via my business (300,000 bed nights in 2010 alone) yet you can’t bring a car into a Member State. Own a property, don’t pay your taxes here, and you can have car here. Doesn’t make sense! Moral of the story – don’t try and do things properly, just take a chance (like the tens of thousands of Brits and Irish and Germans that have had their cars down here for years) – although far be it for me to advise as it is clear from my blog entries on the subject that I am no expert (other than how to do it wrongly with the wrong people and the wrong time!)
Postscript 1: the good news is after wasting what was considerable time on this matter, I am now the owner of a lovely Mercedes SLK which we bought in Portugal (at a stupidly inflated price due to the taxes here) which has turned out to be a superb mobile tanning machine for someone who never has time to sunbathe (but not so convenient for carting cots and high chairs around!).
Postscript 2: the bad news was that when Nick took the car back to UK, he was stranded there for two weeks due to the Ash Cloud (and he HATES being in the UK!). A fitting end to a sorry saga I think.
