Cigarettes and avoiding duty
 

I wonder if anyone could help. I work for a major airline in the UK doing short haul and long haul trips. I often along with colleagues but cigarettes to resell to friends and family. I only ever carry the legal amount in my bag. Today I was told that customs and excise will be interviewing me later this week as I have avoided tax by reselling the cigarettes to friends etc.

I'm unsure if I will loose my job and honestly didn't think it was that major to sell to friends and family. I've been doing this for around 4 years.

Anyone else on here been in a similar situation or know anyone who has. Advice gratefully appreciated.

It’s for personal consumption only. You can give to friends and family not sell.

pay the fine and cut it out. Quite honestly.

If you sell them you have to pay duty so there's no 'legal amount' to carry. I doubt you'll get jail time but you'll probably lose your job. No airline wants this kind of publicity. Seek legal advice.

The big question is who ratted you out to customs and excise and what proof they have of your activities?
Were you selling them at a profit? ( don’t answer that question here ! )
Not a bright move in any case.

I'm guessing a fellow colleague. I'm not sure how they (my airline etc) are going to know or not know if I've sold these for a profit. I doubt they can prove it. I will await my meeting and find out I guess.

I believe it was a fellow colleague. I shall find out hopefully at the meeting

Deny deny deny. And hope they don't read Pprune.

I smell troll.

This is extremely hard to believe on several levels.

A (apparently) 37yr old pilot claiming not to know this is illegal? If that's the case what other very basic regulations is the employer going to wonder haven't been absorbed?

So naive that they blab that colleagues are doing this too? Good luck in the crew-room in future whoever you are. You've evidently upset someone already and this revelation isn't going to win any popularity stakes.

So dim they actually admit to this on a public forum and then ask advice on how to mitigate it?


And if not a troll then criminal fraud in the course of duty is a showstopper whether cabin crew or flight deck imo, how can the company have confidence and trust in anyone who either does this at all and/or is so naive/stupid they bleat about it on a public forum?

As for the disgracefully unprofessional, cowardly and dishonest advice given by some others, also purprtedly 'professional' pilots here....

You’re a complete numbskull, get representation and stop posting.

Virtual like button pressed several times. HMRC transgressions, freely admitted have no place here.

Where does the thread originator say he/she is a 37 year old pilot? This is a cabin crew forum.

In any case, the rules regarding importing cigarettes, as well as alcohol and other goods, are easily found on the gov.uk website here:

https://www.gov.uk/bringing-goods-in...-Great-Britain

And right af the beginning of the page it states:

Some mothers do av em! 🙄

Sigh. Try checking their personal profile - the only place such info is to be found...

If I may, I believe that I, like Abbey Road, was wondering why you referred to the OP as a pilot in your Post #9, when their profile as I read it both originally and later said no such thing and they did indeed therefore appear to be cabin crew, with their profile originally mentioning 737s .:confused:

Incidentally, the OP's moniker also leads to this :D

Jack

I'd have thought the "pilots only" followed by a type made it pretty obvious.
Of course it's possible it's a cc disregarding the stated protocol, but it's equally possible to be a pilot asking in a non pilot forum for obscurity.
On the face ot it the stated info indicates pilot, rightly or wrongly.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....2df93518e1.png

Either way they're a bit of a moron and I hope they get the book thrown at them. I do not want to share my profession with people like that.

It's a wind-up. Someone is getting a laugh out of it.

You use the phrase "pretty obvious" about an (alleged!) pilot but then quickly undermine yourself with "it's possible it's a cc disregarding the stated protocol". Perhaps you shouldn't jump to conclusions so quickly when someone queries your posting.

The 'cabin crew' or 'pilot' question thus remains unconfirmed, though I still think it is more likely the former. But whichever it is, they are daft for not knowing the regulations regarding bringing goods into the UK, and even dafter for publicising it here.

Its probably on the cabin crew forum, because they are the ones selling them.
If there is suspicious activity on the aircraft, ie people paying for large amounts of cigarettes by card, then the company can see this.
My old airline sent out a warning and to cease and desist.

It could be a troll post or someone who is planning to do it.
Whether guilty or not, don't say anything without taking proper legal advice.

Play silly game, win silly prizes.

You may well be lucky that HMC does open a criminal case against you.

Loosing your job might be the best you can hope for.

Nice work on messing it for the many crews who follow the rules