‘Smoke’ On The Water

Just got back from a trip on P&O Ferries Hull. As some of you will know, l didn’t make  Patsy’s 4th Feb one … but courtesy of a great group from here ‘Up North’. they offered me a place f.o.c. on this one. They were fantastic company and l enjoyed every minute of it. They’re not bloggers so l won’t put up their names although l have been supplied with audio snippets from run ins with the UKBA … which l intend to post. Thanks guys.

Went to Adinkerke and Ostende this time so was able to distribute a lot of our info cards for Cross-Border Shoppers there. Met up with Peter from Real Tobacco and we had a very constructive meeting so expect an announcement soon that will be welcomed by Cross-Border Shoppers … although l expect not so welcomed by the UKBA. I was very impressed by the Real Tobacco shops and their level of service. l can thoroughly recommend them.

P&O were again out of stock of tobacco. Further enquiries revealed that they only have one delivery per week! … yes, ONE! It truly does beggar belief that this company loses so much business in these austere times. lt’s either incompetence or sheer stupidity … perhaps both. l wonder if l should tell their owner … the Royal Family of Dubai … in particular Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum ? Never met an arab who likes losing money, especially one from somewhere were they do actually cater for the smoker despite having non-smoking regs. Wonder if he’d give us better smoking facilities onboard?

l gave out many of our info cards onboard the ferry to smokers. l also talked to them about their rights and how to use them. None of them knew they could record the UKBA interviews and they all thought that they had to sign the UKBA officers notebook. That’s a whole load of people that the UKBA won’t find so easy to rob. Interestingly quite a few of them thought the guidelines of 800 cigarettes and 1 kg of tobacco were limits. lt was pleasing to see that when they got back onboard the ship for the return journey, they had purchased over the guidelines .l studied the returning passengers and was able to get those that l had missed the previous night (quite easy to spot them with their purchases in hand).

There was one guy who despite the info l gave him said he wouldn’t put our advice into action. He’d never been stopped by UKBA and firmly believed if he told them the truth he’d be fine. He didn’t want to antagonise them and would be nice and compliant. Well, best of luck mate!

Oh l forgot another thing about P&O. They were doing security checks on foot passengers … well pretending to, because they were really looking for alcohol. A dopier pair of drones you will never see. They were totally useless but still had the arrogance and power trip mentality. l wasn’t playing and voiced my objections to the other passengers waiting in the ‘long’ queue. This was certainly overheard by one of the P&O staff so when it got to my time for the 2 drones and their security theatre, this P&O person ushered me past them and onto the ship.

This morning when everyone was disembarking, l made a point to be last off. Once past passport control l was then faced by a host of UKBA dressed in their robocop attire. However, there was no-one being interrogated that l could see and l just walked right through the middle of them and was on my way. Wonder if they’ve been getting our message too? lol

So, l have a lot of new ‘friends’ and a job well done even though l do say it myself. All in all, a very satisfying and enjoyable trip … and 6 litres of JD also now in stock in  Smokeyville Towers!

Stay safe and spread the message to fellow shoppers. We ARE making a difference. lt’s up to YOU to make even more of a difference!

SH.     

Belgium Tobacco Price Rise

“As of 1 January 2012 there  was a €1.539 per Kilo +VAT(21%) in hand rolling tobacco, other rates stayed the same.

This will add approx €0.10 per 50gr pouch although many manufacturers have taken the opportunity to up prices further.


In order to comply with EC Directive 2010/12 The MINIMUM Tax on hand rolling tobacco has been raised from €43.13 per Kilo to €47.

This will have a disproportionate rise of €3.87 + VAT on the cheapest brands around €4.80 per Kilo (€0.24 per 50gr pouch)

So The cheapest brands @ €3.90 per 50 gr pouch will rise to at least €4.15. Twist Tobacco have already announced price increases to €4.20 on their €3.90 brands. All others will follow  suit. 
                                                                                                                       Bobi “


Prices are starting to come through now.

Help Fellow Cross-Border Shoppers NOW! **Updated**

UPDATE


Thanks for the response, keep it up peeps. I have noticed some of you are only downloading the front, you need the back too.
You print the front on a sheet of A4 and then turn that round and put it back in the printer and then print the back. Then you’ll end up with cards printed on both of the sides. The back is very important as it tells people what to do if stopped and interviewed. Printing these is easy-peasy, I can do it and I’m a blonde!

Justine xxx

—————————————————————–

l know we all get hit with appeals for petitions etc almost on a daily basis. Most of them are a complete waste of time and effort and don’t make a blind bit of difference. Now l’m going to appeal for YOUR help AND make a difference!

However, this appeal IS different. The effect is immediate and then you’ve taken away the UKBA’s 2 primary tools they use to unjustly seize shoppers tobacco and cigarettes.lt stops them using intimidation/harassment etc and using the notebook as YOUR signed ‘confession’. You CAN make a differnce!

The vast majority of cross-border shoppers are oblivious to their rights and the tactics of UKBA until it’s too late! l’m asking you to help stop this. All we want is a level playing field where shoppers are treated fairly and justly. lt sure as hell isn’t happening now! Everyday another 200 or so people are losing their goods, many not because they are smugglers but because of bullying and unscrupulous tactics used by UKBA Ofiicers. Not all UKBA Officers are like this but many are … Officer Alistair Graham Fields for one, in our honest opinion.

All you have to do is print off these information cards. They don’t say everything but they give the basics that will stop the UKBA in it’s tracks. One A4 sheet holds 10 cards … that’s 10 people you can help.

And l do mean YOU because  no-one else is stepping up to the plate to help right this shameful wrong that goes on at our borders 24/7. No-one cares because we are smokers, well WE care and l hope YOU care.

Just put these info cards in your wallet or handbag and when you are on holiday, a baccy trip etc just hand them out to a fellow cross-border shopper. They are easy to spot … they’re smoking cigarettes! You’ve then done something positive that you can be proud of … and it makes you feel good. You’ve made a difference!

The cards are in 3 formats to suit all needs but am told preference is PDF

DOWNLOAD BOTH SIDES … FRONT & BACK

Front and back in PDF format

Other formats if req’d
(Front and back in JPEG format ……   Front and back in MS Publisher format)

Just click on highlighted format you prefer for downlaod. Print on A4 on both sides. Card is better than ordinary paper but in the end it’s the info that counts.

Let’s help our fellow smoker!

Come on folks, the keyboard has it’s place but it isn’t the answer. Get the message out into the real world and help your fellow cross-border shopper. They’ll thank you for it (UKBA won’t though)

Oh oh, I think l’m in trouble.

I’ve gone and got myself banned from the FB page Friends of Forest. I got into a bitchy fight with Simon Clark. He got personal so I kinda snapped so I think I better fess up before the guys find out off someone else. Didn’t take me long to trash the place did it? Do you think they’ll forgive me?

Here’s what I did

Then I got banned

New on N2D. New as in me, Justine

Hi everyone,

                    my name is Justine and the guys here have graciously allowed me to come onboard. I’ll be updating you with snippets of news whilst the guys are out and about. If anyone wants to put a guest  post here about any stories you have about UK Customs just e-mail me at  the usual address (nothing_2_declare@ymail.com) with your post and I’ll put it up for you.

                                        

                                            Hope to hear from y’all,

                                                                                  Justine xxx

News

UKBA’s latest  Jan 2012 newsletter  has an interesting piece about the strike they had. They are rather proud of this:-

“There were also some notable successes, including:

25 clandestines detected at Calais and Dunkirk 

1.5kg cocaine detected at Stansted

3,000 cigarettes and 23kgs of hand rolled tobacco at Birmingham Airport”

In Jan 2012, N2D got 14,200 cigarettes that UKBA had wrongly seized, returned to their rightful owners. Do you think that will be in their next newsletter? 🙂

———————————————————–

This next piece of news is doing my head in. FOREST are supporting the campaign by the Welsh Government to educate us parents on smoking in cars with children in them !*@!#%!!!!

Simon,  I’m sick to the back teeth of being educated by these anti-smoking health fascists. I don’t need them to educate me in anything, especially smoking in my car with my kids in it. I don’t do it, my friends don’t do it, their friends don’t do it and whats more, none of us never have! 

Haven’t you been paying attention? After education comes REGULATION! This is the way they always do it! 

Debbie Arnott must be rolling about the floor laughing and wetting her knickers at the thought of FOREST actually supporting this campaign.Get a grip, you stupid man.

————————————————————-

Well that’s all for now. Please get in touch with your stories and thoughts,

                                                                                                               Justine xxx

Oooh, I forgot. Khaleesi put this up about N2D and I love it. I thinks it’s quite appropriate here too. Enjoy

HOEK-Have You Forgotten How Good It Is? … by SBC

By SBC


The Harwich-Hoek ferry service started in 1890 something. A century later ‘Open Borders’ came in and the Harwich-Hoek ferry was packed with baccy buying Brits (I know, I was one). There was even a tobacco shop in the Hoek terminal car park. Two decades later however almost no one uses it anymore, yet for those living in  East Anglia the ₤40 Ryan Air baggage charge and the Parking fee at Stansted mean it is a very good option for a baccy buying day trip. So here two pieces about my trip this last week…and what I really think of SH & The ‘Ph0d.

————————–

“Is It Worth It?”

I get asked that question by everyone I meet on my baccy runs to the Hoek. The Dutch Border Guard asked me, the girl at the supermarket tobacco counter asked me, the owner of the tobacconist asked, the steward in the Stena smoking lounge asked and the UKBA too.

Well you tell me if it is worth it: WHEN DID YOU LAST EARN NEARLY ₤500 FOR 24 HOURS ‘WORK’?

Dunno about you but it’s been a while since SBC was making that sort of coin. A very very long while…not since we had a Prime Minister who enjoyed eating curry…if you get my drift…?

Do the math; a kilo of tobacco in the UK is getting close to ₤300. In Holland its ₤100 or more accurately at today’s exchange rate a 1kg of GV is ₤109 (20x50g @6.5€ =130€). Bringing back around 3kgs a time-which is all I can comfortably carry as a foot passenger because I don’t buy pouches but tubs of tubing tobacco and they are bulky- is a saving of ₤600. Take off the cost of the ferry, food, fuel to the port etc and that leaves you with a saving of around ₤450-500.

₤500. That is a big chunk out of this winter’s heating bill dans Chez SBC.

AND IT IS ALL THANKS TO SMOKING HOT AND ZAPHOD!  That’s ‘writ large’ for a reason. Thanks to those guys we, The Clan SBC, might just get through the winter and Fuel Poverty. I’m old fashioned  enough to think that anyone who helps me and mine have food on the table is a hero and deserves praise and thanks in a BOLD font.

It wouldn’t be totally inaccurate to say that the N2D team has given me not only one such wad of cash but now several and the promise of more to come(I should point out here that by ‘wad’ I mean the saving I make and that I am NOT selling the tobacco illegally).

Why do I say that? Why is SBC going all gushy?

Well on the evening of the 02.02.2012 I returned to Harwich on the ferry with my old bundeswehr kitbag full of tobacco and the UKBA were waiting for me. Without all the lessons, schooling and information that SH has given us all-free of charge- I would have lost my tobacco. No question at all in my mind, because I know I would have said the wrong thing.

I call myself ‘SBC’ here but my other code name is “The Jigsaw” because when I’m confronted by uniformed authority I GO TO PIECES. You think you get nervous? I’m too embarrassed to upload the latest video of SBC v. UKBA. I’ve shown it to SH and a couple of others close to me but NO ONE else is getting to see it…not even The Bestes Frau In The World.

No joke. I go from being 6 ft of shaven-headed ex-criminal malevolence to a gibbering wreck.

But as nervous as I was, I did what SH has taught us and I pulled out my video camera, started filming. I almost threw my SOT at the UKBA officers and said simply, in a very shaky voice, “this is for you”!

A short discussion about the Rights and Wrongs of videoing (I feel another FOI coming on)…

[officers reading the Video FOI]

…and much praise for the comprehensiveness of my SOT and I was on my way with my goods intact!

[UKBA Officers reading my SOT]

So look at the picture, which shows some of what I brought back and then tell me- was it worth it?

———————–

Baccy Buying In Hoek And About Stena

I go out on the 23:15 night ferry which means I have to pay ₤30 for a compulsory cabin in addition to the(winter price for foot passengers), ₤70 return ticket (cabin not required on daytime sailings). Stena Line is one of the few ferries that still seems to value their smoking clientele; they ask you not to smoke in the cabins and there is a 150€  ‘Cleaning Fee’ if you do, although I’m not sure if they ever get to charge anyone. I wouldn’t try smoking in the cabin bathrooms as they don’t have the same large extractor systems that P&O have in theirs and anyways they provide a separate, comfortable, warm and well ventilated indoor smoking lounge right next to the main lounge and bar. As it also has free Wifi a lot of smokers seem to spend the whole trip in there watching stuff on their netbooks or cell phones-and there are even a couple of power sockets. The food on board is quite good but a burger and chunky fries will set you back 8€ so you may want to take some sandwiches. Bringing a travel kettle will save you a fortune as coffee and tea on board are about 2€ a cup. The cabins have ample mains power sockets available, both Brit and European, but a travel adaptor is useful if you have many charging needs.

The “duty paid” shop on board is well stocked HOWEVER since the new MIL guidelines came in in October last, Stena has started to put up misleading notices which talk about ‘regulations’ and ‘allowances’. I have also been told that the shop will refuse to sell you more than the guideline amount. So there will be an email on its way to the CEO of Stena line this week!

One small thing that is perhaps worth bearing in mind; the bars on board still sell DUTY FREE cigs and baccy. They are allowed to sell you one packet per adult per trip. Bad Boys and Girls of course get a pack from each bar, then send their spouses, then every time the staff rotate they hit the bars again and so manage to get a carton together. BUT those naughty boys and girls need to remember that such goods are DUTY FREE and they will need to adjust their SOT’s accordingly. SH reported some time back about the problems of having a receipt that said ‘Duty Free’ when it was really ‘Duty Paid’.

The on board free WIFI is not very good and runs over a Nordic ISP so google is in some language which has vowels with lines through them and zeros above them. But it does work well enough to surf, email and blog and, as said, it’s free. Scan and log onto ‘Internet@Sea’.

NB. It’ll log you off every 60 minutes automatically.

You arrive in Hoek at around 08:00 which means you have to kill an hour in the terminal before the shops open- and most of the cafe’s in town don’t open until 10:00 it seems. That includes the Koffie Shop– for the stoners among us. Personally I can’t cope with this modern weed you crazy kids smoke so I have never been in there and can’t report on prices or quality. Although I have been informed they don’t yet bar Non Dutch ID holders as the ones on the German border now do.

The Ferry Terminal in Hoek is heated and the seats aren’t too bad- most Waiting Room seats these days seem to have been designed by sadists but the ones in the terminal even have a few that are ‘undivided’ so one might stretch out and get some sleep.

There is a coffee and snack machine but there is no longer a Cafe. Back in the day when I used to go over in the 90’s, before the new terminal was tacked onto the old train station building, it had one of the best cafe’s ever and was open damn near 24/7. Now its become, of all things, a Sushi bar and doesn’t open until 14:00.

There is CNN on a wide screen and free fast WIFI in the terminal. Scan for networks and you’ll find ‘WLAN ZONE-The Cloud’, connect to it and open your browser. Register for an account which is a bit of a pain on a smart phone keypad and then you’re good to go.

So killing the hour or so between 08:00-09:00 when the tobacconist opens is not really too much of a chore.

Then you walk out of the terminal, turn right at the main road at the end of the Car park, over the level crossing then right again onto the main drag of Hoek. Cigo, the tobacconists, is then just on left after Lidls.

Easy.

Cigo isn’t a Belgium style tobacco warehouse just a simple chain tobacconists/newsagents and although he keeps a good supply of tobacco you will need to preorder. The easiest way is to email the owner a few weeks before hand. Don’t use the email addy on the cigo website -it doesn’t work. I don’t want to put his personal email address online so if you want it you can email me on jacquesketchATgmaildotcom. Or you can ring him, he speaks fluent English.

I don’t smoke GV but he assures me he can get in whatever amounts, kilos, you need and at the time of writing it is 6.5€ for 50g. He also does Amber Leaf et al.

Once you’ve got your tobacco then there really isn’t much to do or see in Hoek UNLESS you’re into WW2 coastal defences in which case there is a museum and various ruins/bunkers that can be viewed. I just tend to walk up and back down the main street for a bit, window shopping, sit in cafes and walk round comparing food prices in Lidls…sad git that I am. Then back to the terminal to board the ferry at 12:30. You could walk the Prom or the beach and there is a park I believe too.

Or visit the nudist beach.

You could get the train which goes every 30 minutes to Rotterdam but why would anyone want to? Unless container ports and concrete are yourRule 36.

To be honest the ‘run’ is a bit of chore and an exercise in killing time. So Top Tip: Take a book…War and Peace for favourite.

Fare Thee Well … We’re Outta Here!

It’s been coming for a while and we’ve both discussed it in depth … long and hard. We’ve still got some videos to post, finish off the Mr and Mrs Donny reports and generally tidy and finalise the place up but after that we’re off into the real world. We’ll still post every now and then on important issues and we’ll answer as always ALL comments, e-mails and phonecalls, We’ll still be around to help wherever we can but just not here on the net as much we were.Use this blogs e-mail and phone number for contact as per norm.

The blog will remain up with all it’s content and advice — and will also be updated when necessary — and download links will remain active

Why are we doing this? Well, the answer is simple, the fight for cross-border shoppers is out there in the real world. The majority of people that come here are seeking advice AFTER they’ve been robbed by the UKBA and in a lot of cases it’s too late to do anything … the damage has already been done. The answer is to have the advice BEFORE they come into contact with the UKBA. We intend to do that by talking to smokers and giving out little business cards that give the basic advice and the address of this blog for more detailed information. Our target will be the smokers outside the pubs etc and on the ferries/airports etc

We’re proud that in these days of all the smoking issues we actually did make a difference … but not enough We found with the help of our friends such as SBC the tools to stop a lot of the intimidation, harassment and unjust tactics used by the UKBA to seize goods off legitimate shoppers. Not only did we tell people, we actually went out and did it ourselves to SHOW people it works. We then published everything here and on youtube. Actions not just words has always been our  way.

Our real breakthrough was finding the right to record all UKBA interviews and the right NOT to sign the UKBA Officers notebook. This levelled the playing field and made cross-border shopping a damn sight more safe. We then asked our fellow ‘smoking issue campaigners’ to publicise this to try and get the message out. We sent e-mails, letters etc but all we got in reply was a deafening silence! Not ONE even had the courtesy to reply. We didn’t even ask for anything other than getting the message out, we didn’t ask for links back to ourselves or even to accredit it to us. lt wasn’t even a campaign … all it needed a few lines of text to show the law AS IT STANDS! It’s already there but people just need to know it! Result? … SILENCE!

We’re talking about the big blogs/websites here that say they are for freedom/liberty/rights etc etc incl smoking issues. We’ve been told through the grapevine that we frighten them because we may rock the boat and such …. well tough! … We don’t do nice, we do right!

Do you know that we saved one of these sites from putting up an article admitting to smuggling? They took it down quick quick before ASH got hold of it. ASH would’ve crucified them with it (Yes l’m talking to you, you know who you are).

We are not bitter about these non-responses, just disappointed. There are those that walk the walk and those that don’t … que sera sera

So for us, the internet is done as our primary tool, lt’s a good place to come and get information but we have to admit to ourselves that we can’t do much more with it, We’ve reached as many as we can but we want to reach more and give them the means to protect themselves BEFORE they come into contact with the UKBA. For that we have to get out there and outta here

Got to make up some business cards now for our baccy cruise this weekend …and remember

RECORD ALL UKBA INTERVIEWS

DO NOT SIGN UKBA NOTEBOOK … EVER!

FARE THEE WELL!.

Computers Seized, Charged with Racism (Is Italian a Race?)

George is a disabled pensioner who had 3kg of tobacco seized by the UKBA at Glasgow Airport. He’s been fighting them ever since and has been voicing his anger at them on his blog and in particular the UKBA Officer that seized his goods. This officer has now complained to the police apparently citing racism. George does sail close to the wind at times but is this police action really necessary?

This is all the details l have on the incident so far and is from George himself re a comment he posted on our blog .today :-

 George 100% Genuine said…

Well posters I Honest George was awakend yesterday morning to a heavy knock on my front door, Clad onky in vest I went to investigat to fint two cops standing to attention, We have come for your computes the declard and told me I am a racist for it would seem suggesting Lazzerini was an Italian name??? and comparing an untruthful UKBA Assistant officer to the Captian of the Costa Concordia. Buth go off course, both dont abide by employers policy and procedures, Both lie to squirm their way out of it and both may be looking for other employment soon. Hey! In Scotland THAT’s racist
So no computers of my own to prepare my case in defending myself and my property. And all my questions and defences now in the hands of the UKBA

1 February 2012 12:10