[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > In a message dated 27/10/2008 17:18:34 GMT Standard Time, > [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > > I think your last sentence expresses "wishful thinking". > Customs men are brainwashed to find naughties IMHO. > If they fail, they would pretty soon become ex customs men ! > > > > Being a pedant (and an ex-HMRC employee), I can say that all Customs > men are now ex-Customs men! Those that didn't stay with HM Revenue > and Customs have been moved to the Border Agency. > > In any case, it wasn't the Customs men who were/are involved with > fuel duty, it was the Excise men. ;-) > > Despite the public perception of authoritarianism of 'the lads' the > ethos of HMC&E was very much in practical management of the revenue > from Excise dues. If you were willing to co-operate and demonstrate > you were willing to work with them to pay the correct amount due in a > practical and reasonable way, they would be willing to help you. If > you tried being clever and they got the impression you were trying to > 'work the system' or fiddle the amount due then they would be less > willing to help. > > In the case Paul mentioned, I had overlooked the part of the Briefing > that said it wasn't necessary to retain evidence and I applied what I > thought might be the most reasonable way of providing information, if > asked, to back up > the declaration of a 60/40 (or any other) split. Now Paul has > highlighted the need *not* to keep evidence it very much (to my mind) > confirms there are very light controls in place and there is very > little interest in heavy policing of the duty that the government > itself was reluctant to impose in the first place.
The extra duty gained does not warrent a huge checking operation. If everybody just goes for a reasonable split, based on reasonable knowledge of their boat, then I don't see there being much of a problem. Ron Jones Process Safety & Development Specialist Don't repeat history, unreported chemical lab/plant near misses at http://www.crhf.org.uk Only two things are certain: The universe and human stupidity; and I'm not certain about the universe. ~ Albert Einstein
