CUSTOMS CHECK

metzengerstein

there was a big customs checkpoint in clarehall yesterday ,

are they checking vrt and fuel ,they had a lot of northern reg cars pulled over

Paulw

Good to see. Customs/Revenue seem to be a lot more active these days with checkpoints.

Padraig Mor

They were on Water St (sneaky!) in Cork on Saturday - never saw one before .

metzengerstein

was mad too see thought there was a big crash and looked like the gards from a distance but then noticed the white caps .

well thats it if your not going to pay your tax be prepared for the consequenses ,even though i dont agree we should be paying so much tax for the state of the roads .but still

stealthyspeeder

Saw that on the N32 coming home from work. No guards with them just customs afficers. Would I be correct in saying that you are not breaking the law if you do not stop for a customs officer? (Failure to stop for the Guardai is an offense but I dont think this applies to glorified tax collectors?)

kayos

stealthyspeeder wrote: »

Would I be correct in saying that you are not breaking the law if you do not stop for a customs officer?

I hear boots are doing a 3 for 2 offer on lube... you'll need it if you try that.

PaddyFagan

stealthyspeeder wrote: »

Saw that on the N32 coming home from work. No guards with them just customs afficers. Would I be correct in saying that you are not breaking the law if you do not stop for a customs officer? (Failure to stop for the Guardai is an offense but I dont think this applies to glorified tax collectors?)

Under Sections 134 & 135 of the Finance Act 2001, a customs official in uniform has the power to stop and search any vehicle for tax offences (illegal diesel, vrt evasion, etc). They don't need a Garda to be present

The last thing I'd suggest is fcuking messing with customs - they have pretty much unlimited powers to search (and I mean take apart) your car, house, cat, etc

Paddy

Atomic Pineapple

The customs will just call the Gardai on anyone that fails to stop anyway Stealthy

furtzy

PaddyFagan wrote: »

Under Sections 134 & 135 of the Finance Act 2001, a customs official in uniform has the power to stop and search any vehicle for tax offences (illegal diesel, vrt evasion, etc). They don't need a Garda to be present

The last thing I'd suggest is fcuking messing with customs - they have pretty much unlimited powers to search (and I mean take apart) your car, house, cat, etc

Paddy

Exactly. Their powers of search and seizure far out weigh the Gardai

Good to see though

biko

Yeah see them in Ballybrit occasionally.

B00MSTICK

They were just before crusheen too, a UK regged X5 was pulled over.

Hooch

stealthyspeeder wrote: »

Saw that on the N32 coming home from work. No guards with them just customs afficers. Would I be correct in saying that you are not breaking the law if you do not stop for a customs officer? (Failure to stop for the Guardai is an offense but I dont think this applies to glorified tax collectors?)

This was the case but as shown in post above they now have that power. As Daf says they will follow the vehicle and call for AGS to make a stop.

furtzy wrote: »

Exactly. Their powers of search and seizure far out weigh the Gardai

Good to see though

Gardaí were added as authorised officers........

Theta

metzengerstein wrote: »

there was a big customs checkpoint in clarehall yesterday ,

are they checking vrt and fuel ,they had a lot of northern reg cars pulled over

Yup passed through it myself. Id say they had maybe 8 cars will GB/NI regs pulled in and i could see no drivers for them present so I assume they had been siezed.

A really nice brand new looking merc there aswelll Could have been a CL/CLS.

nogoodnamesleft

They were outside Tralee as well on Monday morning, large check point with about 6 garda partol vehicles as well as uniformed customs officers.

Eric Cartman

has anyone ever heard of customs siezing commercial vehicles being used privatley ? , i know its vauge but when you first tax it you do sign a 'goods only decleration'

Captain Slow IRL

I passed through a massive checkpoint on tuesday, there was a few trucks and a van and jeep pulled over - think they were being dipped.

First one I've ever seen/been through.

buzzard

Not that I am against these types of checkpoints but it shows how desperate this government is for cash and another way to look at it is that we are so reliant on VRT as a revenue source.

Berty

Why do people assume its all about VRT.

It is more about fuel and VRT follows in 2nd/3rd or even 4th place. There are also drug smuggling and people smuggling/immigration to concern themselves with.

When you drive as much as I do these checkpoints are quite frequent and pose little delay in normal travel. Most of their vehicles have LED boards in the back window saying "Customs STOP"

Stinicker

A friend of mine in Kenmare had his car dipped on Tuesday also but was running on white road diesel so was fine. From the various reports here there must have been some sort of massive clampdown over the week.

Fishtits

In a previous life fishtits was seconded to non uniformed customs for a bit, their powers were staggering, a real eye opener.

But they were good guys

merlin84

Ya they are always pulling on cullaville dundalk raod just before m1 roundabout, any one know what the fine is for the agri diesel

slimjimmc

merlin84 wrote: »

Ya they are always pulling on cullaville dundalk raod just before m1 roundabout, any one know what the fine is for the agri diesel

Up to €3,000 i think.

Berty

merlin84 wrote: »

Ya they are always pulling on cullaville dundalk raod just before m1 roundabout, any one know what the fine is for the agri diesel

slimjimmc wrote: »

Up to €3,000 i think.

Not enough I'd say! :mad:

badboyblast

Anyone on here ever had their car seized for VRT? I guess no one would tell ya anyway!

merlin84

Never had car seized, but once heard a couple of years ago that if its more than three months without taxthey can take it straight away, mind you that was heard in a pub quite sometime ago! for what its worth

NewApproach

Berty wrote: »

Not enough I'd say! :mad:

Why not? You'd have to be doing serious mileage for this fine to be worthwhile, when you take into account the savings made my using marked fuel. Don't see any point in increasing it.

slimjimmc

merlin84 wrote: »

Never had car seized, but once heard a couple of years ago that if its more than three months without taxthey can take it straight away, mind you that was heard in a pub quite sometime ago! for what its worth

I'm not sure if Customs are concerned with motor tax, but the Gardaí have the power to seize if motor tax is out by more than 2 months (not 3).

slimjimmc

NewApproach wrote: »

Why not? You'd have to be doing serious mileage for this fine to be worthwhile, when you take into account the savings made my using marked fuel. Don't see any point in increasing it.

For a private motorist the fine can be a deterrant but if you're a haulage company your fuel bill could easily be in the thousands every week so some might consider the risk worth taking. However I think the penalty also allows for a prison sentence for repeat or large scale offenders.

-Corkie-

Berty wrote: »

Why do people assume its all about VRT.

It is more about fuel and VRT follows in 2nd/3rd or even 4th place. There are also drug smuggling and people smuggling/immigration to concern themselves with.

When you drive as much as I do these checkpoints are quite frequent and pose little delay in normal travel. Most of their vehicles have LED boards in the back window saying "Customs STOP"

Your spot on berty, just on the phone to a mate in customs he said their is a lot of checkpoints coming up and a massive crackdown on fraudelant dole payments which will be why revenue officals will be present also

scudzilla

Nice to see a checkpoint.

There's a UK reg Audi parked up near my house, has no tax or mot on the window, so i'm 99% sure no insurance too. And it's being driven on a daily basis.

Poly

I wish they would visit a few of our nomadic citizens.

Eric Cartman

Poly wrote: »

I wish they would visit a few of our nomadic citizens.

"gardai siezed approximatley 5000 toyota hilux's, hi-aces and dynas today for no tax , no insurance and no DOE" in other news "haulting sites going nowhere, lack of vehicles to move caravans to blame"

Poly

Eric Cartman wrote: »

"gardai siezed approximatley 5000 toyota hilux's, hi-aces and dynas today for no tax , no insurance and no DOE" in other news "haulting sites going nowhere, lack of vehicles to move caravans to blame"

"Local Gardai plead with customs to give them back the fcukin vans"

bazzachazza

There was a checkpoint on the old N4 at Kilcock Friday morning for the commuter traffic. Saw 5 UK reg cars and 1 German reg car pulled over there was also a camera man present must have been filming for their documentary series.

About time they caught up with some of these people and made them pay up.

Seth Brundle

scudzilla wrote: »

Nice to see a checkpoint.

There's a UK reg Audi parked up near my house, has no tax or mot on the window, so i'm 99% sure no insurance too. And it's being driven on a daily basis.

Have you contacted the gardai or revenue about them?

Max Power1

bazzachazza wrote: »

There was a checkpoint on the old N4 at Kilcock Friday morning for the commuter traffic. Saw 5 UK reg cars and 1 German reg car pulled over there was also a camera man present must have been filming for their documentary series.

About time they caught up with some of these people and made them pay up.

There was a customs checkpoint being set up today in finglas (well just before the bridge over the m50 to the ballycoolin road in blanch - dunno if its d11 or d15 where the bridge is)

ToxicPaddy

Jeez the boys in blue and customs were busy on Friday..

Heading home from work on Friday evening and turned onto Pembroke st and there were about a dozen gardai doing breathalyzing tests on everyone. I'd say trying to catch those that had a quick one after work before heading off for the long weekend..

Strange but effective place to see it..

sogood

As a coach driver I have come across gardai/customs/social welfare/rsa checkpoints in the past. I was just recently breath tested, for the very first time in 30 years of driving. This was at about 6.30 in the evening, on the Quays in Dublin, with a coach load of tourists. Needless to say I was stone cold sober, but it's good to see just the same.

Berty

I'm glad to see they checked you in the coach and dodnt simply resort to the usual social profiling like catching a hi cuz wearing factory worker. You could have easily had a drink when your group were having dinner. Kudos to the gardai but I haven't Bern breathalised which is a shame because I drive around 50k per year.

veryunhappy

Has any one else had this misfortune
I was coming back from limerick in april and customs were on the side of the road flagged us down so we stopped. They said that they were checking diesel no problem here are the keys, they dipped and to my horror she said ah we need to take a statment there was something wrong some lovely garage has green diesel in there tanks and I had a two thousand euro fine tried to fight it put they dont care so the moral of the story is take samples at every garage you go to and keep receipts.
I HAVE NEVER KNOWINGLY PUT GREEN DIESEL IN MY VAN
CATCH THESE GARAGES PLEASE:(

Absurdum

I find that hard to believe to be honest.

corktina

moral: try and fill up in the same place or places all the thetime...you might have some come back then

Bogger77

Absurdum wrote: »

I find that hard to believe to be honest.

does happen.
Local oil distributor put green diesel into a road diesel tank in my uncles service station a good few years back. Charged the uncle full price, one of the uncles customers was dipped and found with green diesel, so they dipped the uncles tanks, found green. I believe the distributor got a large fine for it.

There's a fair amount of easy profit for a rural/country town service station in using some green diesel to dilute the white road diesel. Same for indie distributors.

veryunhappy

ONLY AN IDIOT WOULD PUT GREEN DIESEL IN THERE TANK AND SEENS AS YOU DONT KNOW ME YOU CANT JUDGE THAT I HAVE A VERY RESPONSABLE JOB AND AM A VERY TRUST WORTHY PERSON AND HAVE NEVER AND WILL NEVER DO ANYTHING THAT BRAKES THE LAW

veryunhappy

Thank you to the person who stuck up for me I am very honest thank you and would do nothing illegal thanks I will however take the advise of use the same petrol station i do keep receipts and samples now and if i am in doubt i will sit there till customs arrive or the garda and if i new which garage it was i would sit there to.

Absurdum

Bogger77 wrote: »

does happen.
Local oil distributor put green diesel into a road diesel tank in my uncles service station a good few years back. Charged the uncle full price, one of the uncles customers was dipped and found with green diesel, so they dipped the uncles tanks, found green. I believe the distributor got a large fine for it.

There's a fair amount of easy profit for a rural/country town service station in using some green diesel to dilute the white road diesel. Same for indie distributors.

oh I know it happens, I find it hard to believe that an innocent driver would be fined for it, that's all

E39MSport

Fcuking April !!! Gimme a break ! I want those minutes back please.

User Friendly

Absurdum wrote: »

I find that hard to believe to be honest.

your not the only one....

Anan1

veryunhappy wrote: »

Has any one else had this misfortune
I was coming back from limerick in april and customs were on the side of the road flagged us down so we stopped. They said that they were checking diesel no problem here are the keys, they dipped and to my horror she said ah we need to take a statment there was something wrong some lovely garage has green diesel in there tanks and I had a two thousand euro fine tried to fight it put they dont care so the moral of the story is take samples at every garage you go to and keep receipts.
I HAVE NEVER KNOWINGLY PUT GREEN DIESEL IN MY VAN
CATCH THESE GARAGES PLEASE:(

Please read the charter and don't resurrect old threads.

veryunhappy

If you dont keep receipts you dont have a leg to stand on no matter what you do or say you have no proof