Cyclist “made the mistake of ordering bike components from the EU”… left with £50 of customs charges; Jumbo-Visma Twitter account hacked — crypto adverts galore; Einer Rubio wins Giro mountain stage shortened due to bad weather + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
Wahoo eliminates all debt following "significant" support from investors
> Wahoo eliminates all debt following “significant” support from investors
Jumbo-Visma Twitter account hacked — Giro updates turn to crypto adverts
If you were having an aimless scroll of social media last night, like me, you might have found your Twitter timeline full of Elon Musk retweets and cryptocurrency adverts. And while in these days of the blue bird app my first assumption was that it’s just another glitch under a certain Tesla-owning billionaire’s rule, my attention was then caught by the username — @JumboVismaRoad…
Just hours after the team had updated fans on Sepp Kuss’ breakaway day on stage 12 of the Giro, Primož Roglič taking it easy ahead of the first major mountain day today, the ‘team’ was now sharing adverts for stuff like this…
And retweeting stuff like this…
Team press officer Thijs Roelen took to his personal account, appealing: “Please, dear cycling fans, report to Twitter that our account has been hacked so you can get the cycling content you want. And also, don’t buy crypto.”
The reports have seemingly done the trick, even if the posts are still on the timeline, the account back belonging to… ‘Dutch World Tour cycling team’. There’s a happy ending… (immense stress for team staff during the Giro aside).
We have a suspect...
That’s what a hacker would say.
— Mihai Simion (@faustocoppi60) May 18, 2023
Suspicious. Very Suspicious…
Giro mountain stage shortened due to weather
The whispers were building, but now it seems pretty certain the Giro stage later today, the first major mountain day (Gran Sasso’s headwind fest has been erased from my memory), will be shortened to less than 80km and have a climb removed due to the weather… it’s another grim day to be riding a bicycle in Italy… especially over 1,800m…
🇮🇹 #Giro
Lake trip….? 🛶 pic.twitter.com/HY7bC7Ucer
— BORA – hansgrohe (@BORAhansgrohe) May 19, 2023
So what’s the new plan?
The stage WILL go ahead today, but will be shortened, with a new race start. The riders will be bussed to the new start after the neutral roll out. All the details on the Breakaway in 5.
— Orla Chennaoui (@SportsOrla) May 19, 2023
Giro stage lopped. They’ll set off front he foot of the Croix de Coeur – around 75 to run. They’ll top the neutral rollout, then hop on buses.
There was a lot of rider discontent apparently overnight, so this has been coming. And the weather is shocking again at the start.
— Ned Boulting 🏳️⚧️ (@nedboulting) May 19, 2023
It’s all about perspective, if the original stage was the current route the cycling world would be screaming its head off about ‘could this be the most exciting Grand Tour stage ever?’ à la Tour de France 2018 stage 17. Bjarne Riis’ stage nine win at the ’96 Tour on a snow-shortened 46km stage wasn’t bad either… I’m reliably informed by Ryan… a bit before my time…
Our new stage profile
Given the adverse weather conditions, especially on the Italian side, the Commission decided to meet the athletes’ requests by applying the Extreme Weather Protocol.
Stage 13 will be shortened with the new km 0 being set at Le Chable, at the bottom of the Croix de Couer. The… pic.twitter.com/6VwMOw8enS
— Giro d’Italia (@giroditalia) May 19, 2023
Geraint Thomas: "I think it is a good decision, it's still going to be a super hard stage"
G spoke to the TV cameras before the start of today’s stage. Well, before the riders rode out of the neutral zone (to fulfil the host town’s duties), jumping in the buses shortly after to transfer to the new start…
“There was a big chat last night with the CPA [riders union] and all the teams voted on what they wanted to do,” the maglia rosa explained. “To be honest, I think it is a good decision, it’s still going to be a super hard stage, it just means we aren’t in this cold wet weather for even longer.
“We’ve seen so many guys going home with sickness and a few injuries obviously, but mainly just sick so if we want to get to Rome with at least 50 guys it’s a good decision I think. It’s still going to be hard racing, it’s a decent compromise.”
The rumours from Jens Voigt on the ground with GCN are that the Arkéa–Samsic bus left without some of the team’s riders. Siri, what’s French for ‘are you 100% sure we’ve got everything?’
ATTACK…
🚌 @TeamEmiratesUAE leading the group. They have fitted wet tyres.
(Not sure I am actually using the right jargon. I need some suggestions. @F1, could help me out?)#Giro #GirodItalia https://t.co/uwGvX5QsE4 pic.twitter.com/Z8X4uzTduI
— Giro d’Italia (@giroditalia) May 19, 2023
Surrey Police says warning letters "most appropriate course of action" for majority of driving offences, and calls on cyclists who submit multiple near miss clips to "engage with us further" to improve road safety
Eolo-Kometa mourns loss of Arturo Grávalos
Arturo, rest in peace friend and mate. You will be always with us. pic.twitter.com/W8TMBZ3IDD
— EOLO-KOMETA Cycling Team (@EoloKometaTeam) May 19, 2023
Racing is back underway at the Giro d’Italia, Eolo-Kometa part of the action. This morning the Italian-registered, Spanish-based Continental outfit run by Ivan Basso and Alberto Contador announced the tragic news that one of their riders Arturo Grávalos had passed away.
The 25-year-old was diagnosed with a brain tumour in November 2021, undergoing surgery a few weeks later. Despite “very positive” progress, Grávalos went through several further surgeries, his team explaining how he “never gave up”.
“That was his nature,” the team said this morning. “Arturo wanted to leave his mark in the sport he loved so much and in which he generated so much affection.
“Life put many obstacles in front of him in recent times and he always, always, reacted with the best of his face, overcoming them with the greatest of positivism.
“He kept his sorrow or regret to himself, refusing it to give it continuity. Armed with his huge smile, his closeness and his frankness, he was all about building, supporting, praising and thanking. We will never forget you, Arturo. Rest in peace.”
road.cc contributor Matt Page to take on Mark Beaumont's NC500 record
You might recognise Matt Page from reviewing here at road.cc, from off.road.cc videos or from his numerous long-distance achievements documented on the site, not least the world record for most castles visited in one week by bike (stick that in your pipe Froomey, you can keep your yellow jerseys)…
In short, he’s a bloody strong cyclist and has a new challenge in his sights… Mark Beaumont’s NC500 record of 28 hours 35 minutes. Matt will be taking it on Monday 22nd or Tuesday 23rd May 2023, weather depending, and will be aiming to better Mark’s average speed of 18.2mph (29.2kph) for the 516-mile (~830km) circular route, which includes a brutal 32,000ft (9,754m) of climbing. Told you he’s bloody strong…
> Video: “One hell of a rollercoaster” – Matt Page on his 1,525km London-Edinburgh-London ride
We’ll keep you updated here on the live blog and you can follow Matt’s progress on the live tracker…
"Send your criticism to me, not the riders. The riders are the heroes of this sport": Adam Hansen comes out firing again
CPA riders union president Adam Hansen needs to respect the Giro’s microphones a bit more… stop dropping ’em…
Here’s his statement on events which led to stage 13 being shortened…
To provide clarity from the riders’ perspective, the weather conditions experienced during this year’s Giro have been among the most intense. In response, the riders held a vote last night to invoke the extreme weather protocol. According to the regulations, which outline freezing rain as point 1 and extreme temperatures as point 4 during certain parts of today’s route, the riders agreed to vote.
If the majority surpassed 80 per cent, the remaining riders would follow and respect the majority decision, which implementing the extreme weather protocol and executing point 3: “change of route.” The voting process was conducted anonymously, with over 90 per cent of the riders in favour. I and the CPA support their decision.
If anyone disagrees with their choice, I will wear the cost. So send your criticism to me, not the riders. The riders are the heroes of this sport, and I believe they should focus solely on their racing rather than being subjected to negative remarks.
I would like to extend my gratitude to the Giro organisation for recognising the need for change and understanding the riders’ perspective. The extreme weather conditions experienced this year are beyond anyone’s control, and the riders are grateful for the support of the RCS, volunteers, and fans. They will do their best to put on a show for the world to watch!
The stage is now underway, Thibaut Pinot part of a five-man breakaway. Could it be that illusive Grand Tour win that’s avoided him since 2019 for the Frenchman at his final Giro?
Einer Rubio wins Giro mountain stage shortened due to bad weather
Why can’t we (Thibaut Pinot) have nice things (Grand Tour stage wins)? Yes, I know he won loads back in the 2010s but it’s been a barren few years since 2019 and now, in the final year of his career, the road.cc fan club would like one more day in the sun. Is that too much to ask? Right, tears dried, back to the stage…
Einer Rubio won the day with this impressive sprint…
𝙀𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙧 𝙍𝙪𝙗𝙞𝙤 𝙥𝙞𝙥𝙨 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙗𝙖𝙪𝙩 𝙋𝙞𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙅𝙚𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙤𝙣 𝘾𝙚𝙥𝙚𝙙𝙖! 🥇
The Movistar rider is the victor in the alpine assault that was Stage 13 of the Giro d’Italia 👏 pic.twitter.com/eUTt7q78hx
— Eurosport (@eurosport) May 19, 2023
In the GC group, Hugh Carthy took six seconds back on the rest, while Andreas Leknessund lost seven. The tight battle for the maglia rosa continues…
How to be a Grand Tourist – enjoying a few days at cycling's biggest races
> How to be a Grand Tourist – enjoying a few days at cycling’s biggest races
Cyclist "made the mistake of ordering bike components from the EU"... left with £50 of customs charges
Anyone experienced similar over the past couple of years?
“Made the mistake of ordering bike components from the EU,” Stan wrote on Twitter. “This government needs to be placed in the stocks and pelted with s*** with what they’ve done to EU trade,” his conclusion…
He ordered from a German-based bicycle components website and was left with the not so charming cocktail of Customs Duty, Import VAT AND a Clearance Fee…
“People may be thinking ‘don’t order from the EU’ but there are two points A) this used to be easy,” he added. “B) these rules apply to ANYTHING you transport across the border. Technically you [could] be charged duty for putting your bikes on your car and travelling to France and back if customs decided you couldn’t prove you already owned the bike.”
> Cycling club arrives in Spain for charity ride… hit with £7,000 bike customs charge
yeah it’s a nightmare because you can’t just trust the price that you’re paying upfront – this stuff used to be handled behind the scenes.
I’m gonna complain to https://t.co/mV4hxDMlfO because the “clearance fee” is purely parcel force and that should imo have been included
— Stan (@geckobike) May 19, 2023
"A total joke compared to pre-Brexit"
We got in touch with Stan who told us his total order was £210, including four tyres, a chain, a cassette, some inner tubes and a KMC missing link.
“They ship without VAT so not bothered about paying the VAT but they should really include Parcel Force’s clearance fee in their shipping costs and make it clear that there are extra custom fees… a total joke compared to pre-Brexit.”
19 May 2023, 08:08
19 May 2023, 08:08
19 May 2023, 08:08
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Latest Comments
Oh sir! sir! Johnnys riding his bike without a helmet, he’s going to die when he falls off!, Yes what a silly boy he is ! Anyway jump in the car we’re going to be late for school and I hope no one gets in my way especially bleeding cyclists!! I wonder if AI will see what fools we are..
It's more about the nomex suit, car helmet and five point harnesses (with HANS), but "reply" ain't what it used to be...
'Gotten' ? The word is 'become', as in, I have become sick of seeing 'gotten'.
OK, all the stuff I said elsewhere on this thread in defence of helmets, I take it all back. I'd sooner be seen as an anti-lidder than be associated with that heap of steaming ordure.
Exactly my thoughts. A real shame, they're amazing bikes, same as Islabikes. Really sad to hear the news. Having said that, we probably didn't do enough to help them. My son had one Islabike and two Frogs, all second hand that we resold for about the same amount.
I couldn't agree more, and when we have all that everywhere I might think about leaving off the helmet, but until then if I have to share the road with huge fast-moving chunks of metal, many of them piloted by persons of limited intelligence and even less self control, I'm going to keep the lid, which even Burt agrees can "probably" offer some protection from injury.
And the irony is that helmet promotion and mandation kills lots of people and they don't reduce the death rate of cyclists. The benefits of cycling vastly outweigh the risks, and helmet promotion and mandation deter cycling (the only proven effect) so those deterred lose those benefits and die earlier.
I see Mont Pythons upper class twits have been replaced by male anti helmet twits who probably ride under 10000 km/year while wearing bike gloves, ladies bib capris, power meters to register the watts they dont produce ,gps because they are easily lost on a tiny island, a mobile phone to call the wifey in case the ride gets too hilly or wet or fast or windy, all while complaining their tushy hurts. They always ask for proof..you could crash a few times on purpose without and with a helmet and send us the pictures. Do pros complain about helmets?..if you rode in a country with sun you would know that styrofoam actually keeps your head cool.. Ps ice hockey players say they dont need mouthguards..ask them to smile
If it saves one life...
Pro cyclists wear helmets as it is mandated. Before it was mandated, very few wore them. Infrastructure, separation, 20 mph, traffic calming are far more important.
64 thoughts on “Cyclist “made the mistake of ordering bike components from the EU”… left with £50 of customs charges; Jumbo-Visma Twitter account hacked — crypto adverts galore; Einer Rubio wins Giro mountain stage shortened due to bad weather + more on the live blog”
Ha, in relation to the
Ha, in relation to the customs fees, the chap in question actually got stung for £19 in fees, the VAT will have always been owed.
I would say a £12 handling fee from Parcelforce is an absolute joke though, and yes I’d encourage the customer to feedback to the webstore that their chosen courier is rinsing its customers. Other, potentially cheaper couriers are available.
Yep.
Yep.
Vat changes were brought in across the EU at the same time as Brexit so would have happened regardless of Brexit.
It really depends how much admin time dealing with this takes as to whether £12 is reasonable.
It probably is reasonable in
It probably is reasonable in as much that import forms are probably extensive and in triplicate.
Best option is to buy from a UK company and avoid all this nonsense.
bikeman01 wrote:
best option of course was to remain part of the EU and then this wasn’t an issue
but hey at least we took back control of our borders, delivered a massive economic boost to the country and sorted the NHS.
jobs a good un!
Person buys VAT free stuff
Person buys VAT free stuff from overseas. Then whines on Twitter about having to pay VAT on receipt.
mark1a wrote:
quite, the only thing to complain about would be the clearance fee, which doesn’t seem all that bad. I can remember recieving packages from the US with £7 customs charge and £30 clearance fee, that always seemed unreasonable to me.
mark1a wrote:
The point is that it is no longer clear as to what charges you may face (without holding a degree in import/export bollocks). Brexit is a total f…up, fostered by a bunch of gaslighters praying on an ignorant population.
Legin wrote:
Well, at least we get to enjoy all the tangible benefits
mark1a wrote:
This issue behind it though is the impact on business, and the inability to ship between UK/EU and vice versa without a massive headache.
I shipped a used piece of network equipment from an office back to the UK and made the mistake of putting an insurance value of the new price, around £4k. This then triggered a whole heap of problems where even TNT couldn’t seem to figure it out, at one point we almost gave up as we were facing a £1k or so bill for something bought some years back in UK that was shipped out and coming back now.
Since then where we would previously source from UK for EU offices we were working on, which would hand quite a lot of business to UK suppliers, it is all handled by our Paris office. The red tape is so bad it genuiniely pushed our procurement person to the brink of a breakdown. I don’t doubt this has forced some small businesses to give up completely. But hey blue passports and sovereignty! woop woop.
Adam Sutton wrote:
I agree, it’s a mess and businesses were not prepared. However that is not the issue here. The issue here is that someone bought some bike parts from Germany which would have been much cheaper at the point of order due to not having German VAT at 19% charged. Local VAT of 20% is then applied on import. Much of the effect of this would have happened regardless of whether we were in the EU or not due to new regulations designed to reduce VAT fraud. The duty of 6% is minimal, and possibly the Parcelforce processing charge is getting on for unreasonable.
6% might be “minimal” to the
6% might be “minimal” to the end user, but is significant in red tape and additional process for the companies involved. That was my point. This just highlights these issues.
Adam Sutton wrote:
My work team (I’m in the US) wrote off a $50k data acquisition system we installed on a machine which was then shipped to Europe for some testing. It got stuck in customs somewhere on the way back and after several months it was just too much hassle trying to convince them that it wasn’t new equipment that we were importing.
Paying additional duties and
Paying additional duties and fees on EU orders is annoying, but I can kind of live with it as long as the website makes it clear. There are some websites that are in English and display prices in £, and you have to look very closely to realise they actual ship from the EU.
But what is really annoying is if you have to return something – every courier seems to have different forms and different requirements (often forms completed in duplicate or triplicate; sometimes inside package or attached to package or handed to driver etc.) and feels like a complete lottery whether or not there will be additional fees/duties on the return shipment, let alone whether you have any chance of getting any of the duties you paid on import refunded…
I don’t bother buying
I don’t bother buying anything from the EU or USA anymore, small value items just don’t justify the Parcel Farce charges.
It amazes me that people
It amazes me that people think we can take part in international trade, and not have to follow rules and pay charges. It’s your responsibility to check these out. Be it from EU or elsewhere. Since Brexit, people assume things haven’t changed and ship bikes to events without organising customs. £12 is nothing for the process companies have to go through to organise, and pay out on your behalf.
I am a freight forwarder and customs broker. To enable the likes of Parcelforce / DHL etc to do the entry, they need to post huge sums (millions) into an account that is effectively dead money to them. Customer has to pay to use this service, as the money gets no interest, and cannot be used for business/cash flow use. You are not paying based on the value of the goods, but the process. They have to manually enter the entry, and several items with different tariff codes takes time. We charge £60 an entry, which inclues 3 tariff numbers, and £3.50 per additional tariff number. Granted, I don’t work with individuals for small stuff, and don’t do bulk entries like this specific senario, which are a little less time consuming. Don’t blame the companies, blame Brexit, and those that promoted it and voted for it.
Pyro Tim wrote:
It amazes me that you think that every customer should have to learn the details of international trade when they’re just looking to buy stuff from an online shop. The responsibility should lie with the seller to figure out their typical charges and inform the customer or at least warn them if the charges are too complicated for the shop to work out (e.g. if they haven’t shipped to that location previously).
The law is the law, and
The law is the law, and ignorance is no excuse. Your responsibility, not someone in another country. If you want to import, you have to know. If you don’t / can’t be arsed, buy it from UK from someone who has checked and complied. The rules are complicated enough, I know UK customs, and a little of EU, based on what it was here before Brexit, but nothing of US or anywhere else. It is not my responsibilty to know foreign rules, just as it isn’t a bike shop in Germany to know our rules.
Pyro Tim wrote:
If a bike shop in Germany is selling to UK customers, then I’d expect them to know what they’re doing. For example, Mantel (https://www.mantel.com/uk) declare that they will only ship orders up to the value of £135 due to Brexit shenanigans.
Yes, ultimately it’s up to the consumer, but it’s not practical to expect every customer to know the specific details of an industry when they’re just looking to buy some bike parts. The seller, however is the natural single point that will have to know some details of shipping internationally, so it follows that they should help their customers.
It is not the sellers
It is not the sellers responsibility, but the importers. Doesn’t matter what you think, this is the reality. The seller wants to make money, they sell. They might arrange shipping for you, but ultimately once it’s left their warehouse, that’s the end of their responsibility. Probably sold on DAP terms, which means they pay for delivery up to your door, excluding customs clearance. This means the importer needs to pay taxes and charges to clear the goods.
Mantel do that as you don’t pay VAT or duty on low value goods, and can be customs cleared without declaring tariff numbers. This is a simple job for couriers to enter. It is something they’ve chosen to do so they don’t have people bitching, but no requirement to do so, and limits what they can sell. Others will have made a commercial decision to do something different.
Pyro Tim wrote:
Not entirely true under distance selling regulations. It’d be entirely feasible to refuse to pay the import duties and then claim your money back from the seller as they hadn’t fulfilled their side of the contract i.e. delivering the items to your address.
They’ve provided all the info
They’ve provided all the info in their FAQs
“If you select a delivery country outside the EU, prices are automatically calculated without German value added tax (VAT). All customs duties, taxes and fees due for your order are collected by the respective authorities when your shipment enters the destination country. To obtain further information on the relevant regulations in your country, please contact your local customs or taxation office.”
The fact Stan has chosen to not read or he has and then ignored this information is only his fault, whinging about it on the internet just makes him look a bit of a cheapskate, could’ve supported a LBS instead.
That hardly amounts to “all
That hardly amounts to “all the info ” !
I’m curious what more woud
I’m curious what more woud you like them to add?
You can answer that by
You can answer that by comparing your answer with the invoice shown.
“All customs duties, taxes
“All customs duties, taxes and fees due for your order are collected by the respective authorities when your shipment enters the destination country.” You mean like these ones they’ve stayed you’ll be liable for, which then he was so shocked to have to pay?
They aren’t those companies/countries why should they pay to list the details, of hundreds of separate entities, on their website when that information is already out there?
If you’ve spent enough time trawling online bike shops trying to save less than the £50 in fees paid, you have the ability to look up the relevant information.
How would you know beforehand
How would you know beforehand what the actual fees and charges are ?
All you listed were potential costs and that the end user knows who to contact at the relevant tax authority.
You are assuming a very high level of knowledge and application somewhat beyond ‘looking it up’.
I can look up vat advice and rates. – did I know enough about vat ? Hell yes, enough to know I know eff all.
Springbok45 wrote:
Yeah good luck getting that information from the customs office.
Likewise getting the delivery company’s clearance fees. Especially as you probably wont be told who they are.
bikeman01]
https://www.trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/find_commodity
https://www.simplyduty.com/
As long as you have prior
As long as you have prior knowledge and are fully conversant with all the technicalities, general rules and exceptions.
There is a reason why tax specialists exist.
A little knowledge is dangerous.
https://www.gov.uk/import
https://www.gov.uk/import-goods-into-uk
Google is your friend, first result of “importing to the UK” it takes you into all the necessary points in pretty plain English, it’s almost like the civil service put this together for anyone to understand rather than providing “tax specialists” with business.
Being obtuse for the sake of it just makes you look as silly as Stan.
https://www.parcelforce.com
https://www.parcelforce.com/help-and-advice/receiving/how-are-customs-fees-calculated
Yep, super secret fees hidden away from all of us.
Distance selling rules don’t
Distance selling rules don’t apply to overseas companies, you are into INCO terms and international rules. Which is why some companies just refuse to do it.
You could argue that they haven’t fulfilled their contract, but if the contract is DAP, or DDU as it was, you are in breach for not clearing. If you do demand a refund they’ll likely keep the shipping cost back, as although they can get goods back, it costs, and you will foot the bill. Unless they make a commercial decision otherwise.
Once you are into international trade, the rules change, and domestic rules don’t necessarily apply. You are an intelligent chap, why so hard to comprehend?
Pyro Tim wrote:
Again, that seems very unlikely considering contract law, but presumably that would need a court case to fully judge on that. It’d be fairly easy to reverse a credit card transaction if there was non-delivery of an item and it wouldn’t matter if the supplier said that they were only responsible for it leaving their warehouse.
I was going to buy a saddle
I was going to buy a saddle from a German brand until I saw a note on their website that they don’t ship to the UK now.
That’s their comercial
That’s their commercial decision. Nothing stopping them, other than they don’t want to deal with moaning Brits. Can’t say I blame them, based on the comments on here
Pyro Tim wrote:
But as has been written elsewhere, half the time you don’t even know that the online shop is overseas. Pricing in GBP, site all in English. I got nearly to paying on a site for something recently when I thought, “Hang on!” and dug around on the site to find out where they were. Ten minutes later, it turned out that the site was actually in Spain. So I didn’t proceed with the order.
Fair point, but some have a
Fair point, but some have a warehouse here, so although they are in Spain, or somewhere else, they ship from UK, and it includes VAT and duty. They should be clearer though
Pyro Tim wrote:
You seem to be missing the point that import duty and clearance fees only become due when the seller hasn’t included vat in the transaction. As all retail prices in the UK include vat it is not surprising that buyers assume that the price they pay would already include vat.
It is also the case that many buyers would not even know that the seller was outside of the UK since many adopt a practice of hiding behind a .co.uk website and do not publish their postal address.
Not all retail prices in the
Not all retail prices in the UK include VAT. It is common in building/plumbing merchants to exclude VAT as most (but not all) of their customers are trade and will be reclaiming the VAT anyway.
If you find a ecommerce website that does not include a “geographic” address then be very wary as it is the law that one must be shown within one click of the homepage.
Any good seller is going to make clear the VAT status and I recently bought from the US and paid a sum to cover all charges to my home address. This meant it went smoothly but if HMRC forgot to charge the VAT as they often do the seller gets the benefit.
Auriol Grey appeal rejected
Auriol Grey appeal rejected (even though Martin and Nigel told us it was guaranteed to be overturned on appeal because of the biased judge!): https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-65645364
Best News I have heard today.
Best News I have heard today. Thank you
Have they released new
Have they released new footage? I was reading about it earlier and the video I saw showed more interview footage – that I hadn’t seen before – with the interrogating officer explaining to Ms Grey that their stills clearly show her hand on Mrs Ward’s sleeve and could she explain that to them.
Well what do you know?
Well what do you know? Causing someone to fall into the path of moving traffic (regardless of what heinous crime you think they have commited)* with all the foreseable consequences of such an act has been confirmed to be illegal.
The only mitigation for Auriol Grey is that she is as much a victim of the MSM anti cyclist hate campaign as her victim Mrs Ward.
*For the record I’d happily push Putin into live traffic, take the consequences, and only regret that it wasn’t into a container full of flesh eating worms.
Rendel Harris wrote:
And if anyone was in any doubt, just listen to the video of the interview. Shocking.
stomec wrote:
Indeed. I think the interviewer was unnecessarily kind to someone who had callously took another human being’s life. Personally I would have made her watch the video over and over again, including the part where her victim was hit by the car, until she admitted, word for word, what she said and why.
No wonder so many people
No wonder so many people voted for the sunny uplands of a Brexit deal when they can’t even fathom out for themselves that ordering from within the EU is now going to cost them more than it did in the past!
FFS, take some responsibility for your own actions, instead of blaming everyone else.
We live in a country of utter morons these days.
Good grief I’m becoming more curmudgeonly every day surrounded by these twats
Kemi Badenoch would no doubt
Kemi Badenoch would no doubt say that the extra costs are not the effect of Brexit.
The government would blame
The government would blame Covid and the war in Ukraine – its the stock answer to everything that goes wrong.
Owd Big ‘Ead wrote:
Like: was it last summer? When the tabloids were all up in arms because people travelling to the European mainland were being treated as if they were ‘foreigners’, and being asked to show their passports and having passports rejected for not having enough time left on them and stuff…
“It is not enough to succeed
“It is not enough to succeed – others must fail. ” – Iris Murdoch, or Gore Vidal, or Somerset Maugham, or possibly Marcus Whatsischops.
chrisonatrike wrote:
Google seems to go with Somerset Maughan.
chrisonatrike wrote:
Earliest attribution is to Ghengis Khan. Marcus Whassname would never have said anything so negative!
Quote:
I don’t think that means what you think it means, Dan…
brooksby wrote:
What’s wrong with it? Every time Pinot gets to the finish line, the victory he was chasing isn’t actually there.?
I bought some stuff from La
I bought some stuff from La Passione this week.
Arrived in 2 days and VAT was included in the transaction and no fees upon import.
a basic knowledge of purchasing abroad and a good seller means it was painless.
A £12 fee from parcel force seems rather irrelevant when you’ve spent £200 getting something cheaper than you would have if buying domestically
Whist we are thinking of
Whist we are thinking of brexit, this popped up
https://twitter.com/a_toots/status/1659289249684811783
“Congratulations to this man, who’s just been officially recognised by the Guinness World Records for the longest pause of all time while trying to think of some Brexit benefits.”
I thought that was a spoof.
I thought that was a spoof. But it’s actually for real.
Interesting. Wiltshire police
Interesting. Wiltshire police targeting illegal e-bikes in Swindon.
andystow wrote:
Quote from that article “Electric bicycles are only legal if they comply with the law”: that’s true for everything, isn’t it?
Steve K wrote:
Isn’t it the other way round? Everything is legal unless there’s a law proscribing it
Re import duties. Isn’t it
Re import duties. Isn’t it the case that overseas sellers are required to collect VAT on orders below £135.
For orders above £135 VAT is collected by the incoming delivery company and for that service they also add on their clearance fee.
The rules around customs duty is a mystery. And its a free for all as for as clearance fees.
That seems to be how it works when I buy stuff on ebay and Ali Express.
It does seem a bit much that overseas sellers can hide behind .co.uk websites so these fees aren’t transparent to buyers.
I’m looking at this from the
I’m looking at this from the EU side and yeah, Brexit bollox*d everything up. Was a regular customer with SJS. No more, received the royal treatment too. What irks me is not so much the customs duty (normal), nor the VAT (ditto) but the fact that as a customer you’re obliged to let yourself get screwed by the courier firm who tack on unreasonable service fees for filing the declaration. There simply is NO way (at least in the EU) to handle this yourself as a consignee.
In bygone years at least this -largely theoretical- option existed: you could actually go to a customs office and fill out the paperwork , then pay at the counter and pick up your parcel. Fail to see why this wouldn’t be possible in the IT age but there it is.
Would like to visit the UK again but passports for the family, being given the third degree by some border force guy who wants to make sure that I’m not about to give up my well paid job in Brussels to live on the dole in the UK…nah, I’ll pass.
Good thing Rapha set up a warehouse on the EU-side.
Even the frog faced Farage
Even the frog faced Farage admits brexthick is a disaster. Not his fault of course, but it’s still a disaster.
simple answer is don’t use
simple answer is don’t use Parcel Force/Roayal Mail, they charge an exorbitant handling fee, for orders that will attract any duty, I ask the seller to use DHL etc, they just charge the duties.