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This guy is a wine importer. He prepared, in advance, as well as he possibly could for Brexit.
He's not a happy bunny
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Daniel Lambert (Wines). ????
(1,186 views)
Over the past 15 days I have not only been running my company as normal but I have been faced with largest threat to its future since it began in 1992. This is #Brexit & here is my thread on just how bad things are getting. 1/26
Six months ago my business started to prepare for Brexit. We obtained the following licences and accreditations JUST to maintain the status quo. EORI number, RORO badge for Chief, GBRC number, GBWK number, we already had ARWS and DAN accounts. 2/26
All of this took nearly five months a lot of form filling but on the 9th December this was all in place. So I would say whilst we knew Brexit would be a car crash we did not know it was going to be a multiple pile up in the fog with fatalities. 3/26
On January 4th I returned to work being wise enough to have stockpiled just enough so that if we had a bumpy ride in January we would have enough stock to last until February. 4/26
I should add this took a considerable amount of cash flow and management to do this during a lockdown/ pandemic combined with Xmas sales. But we managed. 5/26
I should add this took a considerable amount of cash flow and management to do this during a lockdown/ pandemic combined with Xmas sales. But we managed. 5/26
On my Return in January I started to use Chief for the very first time. It was not possible to use this system prior to Brexit or necessary as it was very simple to move stock in the EU with minimal fuss and delay with the EMCS system. 6/26
It’s fair to say it worked like clockwork after 40 years of tweaks to get the system just right. But in Brexit Britain we are very much on our own & so this British system (CHIEF) has now got every product the U.K. consumes in its grasp. 7/26
However the problem with CHIEF is that it was built decades ago and was never designed to handle EU imports too! Why would leave a system (EMCS) that works for one that does not? 8/26
A CHIEF declaration (C88) has up to 65 boxes to complete. Some of these are very simple like excise number and parties involved on the import. So basic stuff. Others however are very vague codes. 9/26
CHIEF is there for the Government to collect tax, that is its primary purpose. It’s not there to aid businesses. It definitely hinders business. On this point no debate is required. Most of the other boxes are codes that have zero meaning .10/26
Now unbeknown to me until January all hauliers use secondary software to over write onto CHIEF because is so hard to use. There is currently a 4 month waiting list for new installations of this software which costs £2K all in. 11/26
I have been imputing directly to CHIEF which I should add costs £157 per month to be able to access. Yes thats right folks you have to pay to tell the government how much your going to pay them. The first Brexit dividend. 12/26
Now after 14 days I finally complete my first C88 declaration but noticed I was paying the 3rd countries tariff. Odd I thought to myself I am sure just three weeks ago the U.K. signed an FTA with the EU to make all goods tariff free. So I used my contacts to find out more. 13/26
Now you would think that government would want to make using CHIEF as easy as possible as now there are millions of businesses having to use it. 14/26
So you would think that a call centre would be a good idea right? No wrong, this is the ONLY HMRC system where there is no number to call. Just an email with a 5 day turn around. Remember that when government say they are doing all they can to help. 15/26
So with the knowledge that government are not interested in making Brexit easy for businesses and in many cases businesses are just trying to survive, we have ploughed on regardless. 16/26
Again you would think if there is a FTA, CHIEF would apply it to all imports from that area/ country right? Wrong you have to claim it. Unbelievable! 17/26
Claiming a tariff free status was yesterday’s game with CHIEF. To be fair deep in the CHIEF files I found the notes to apply the codes to the system required (U 110 followed by AP for example) but problem is after triple checking, CHIEF has not been updated properly. 18/26
So once again I can’t import wine via my own means until I wait for CHIEF staff( normally five working days) for them to advise how to correct the problem and complete the declaration correctly tariff free. 19/26
So what does this all mean for the consumers? Well to supply the U.K. the exporter need to get a Rex document to prove the origin of their stock to the U.K. government (again, unbelievable). 20/26
Then with all the additional costs in Paperwork, time wasted, government fees to tell the government how much your paying them and delays in the supply chain it’s obvious price are upward bound. 21/26
So this is why I have been saying wine per bottle on retail will increase by at least £1 per bottle for mass market products, for niche small batch wines your looking at £1.50 or even £2.00 on the bottle prices. There’s another of those Brexit dividends. 22/26
This government have cocked up Brexit from day one. But I am now 100% sure that choice will reduce dramatically, price will increase dramatically, delays with increase dramatically and the U.K. wide depression is inevitable, and still the government couldn’t give a toss. 23/26
It’s why I will leave this country next year once my kids have finished there education. I am lucky and have a second nationality within the EU thanks to my father. 24/26
But for those that can’t leave I understand why you are angry and with what I can see your about have a lot more taken away from you than just freedom of movement. 25/26
The Tory party is no longer the Tory party. It is UKIP that has assumed control of the Tory party. They goal is clear, to commit economic vandalism and social vandalism on the U.K. whilst ensuring they get considerably wealthier. That is very sad for what was a great country.
END
Did anyone else watch the BBC2 programme about the Padstow fishermen this evening - all of them believing that once things open up after lockdown they will get their market back again. I feel sorry for the man who had just refitted out that boat. It must be heartbreaking to have their livelihood taken away - and the rules haven’t changed it is just that the U.K. has moved into the group of non EU countries.
In the email sent on Tuesday, January 19th, and seen by PoliticsHome, the EU official said it was “strictly forbidden for bivalve molluscs originating from third countries, [such] as UK" not ready for human consumption to enter the EU at any time, and that "molluscs accompanied by an aquaculture certificate, wild or from aquaculture, cannot in any case reach a depuration centre in the EU".
This is horrific. These are the sorts of consequences that just weren't thought through in the run up to the Referendum.
You see, leaving the EU wasn't just like leaving a golf club. 40+ years of close integration of trade and 30 years of enjoying the freedom of the Single Market just couldn't be unravelled in a short period. It's even more sickening that our bold Brexiteers used fishing as a highly emotional high profile issue on which to persuade people to vote Leave. They really didn't have a bl**dy clue, did they?
I have no doubt that Johnson will find a £1million bung for the building of a purification plant in the UK, but by the time it's completed so many people will have lost their businesses and no doubt the hole in the EU market will have been more or less filled.
People did try to warn that leaving would be very complex, but 'Project Fear' was very potent.
Well some good news about Brexit - Lord Frost, who clearly did a good job of leading the negotiations with the EU, has been asked to continue this task over the many difficult months to come. He will have a great understanding of the issues and complexities involved. I for one will be more optimistic about ironing out these ‘bumps’ with him at the wheel. A very intelligent ‘details’ man.
The thread title is ironic, Ug. These are not 'bumps', these are permanent features of life as a third country outside the EU.
We’ll have to see how things progress I think MaizieD. Events can change very quickly as we’ve witnessed in the last few days....
With goodwill and pragmatism on both sides we might all be pleasantly surprised.
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The UK has apparently formally applied to join the Trans Pacific Trading Bloc, which includes Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.
Errm! That makes sense! 
Urmstongran
We’ll have to see how things progress I think MaizieD. Events can change very quickly as we’ve witnessed in the last few days....
With goodwill and pragmatism on both sides we might all be pleasantly surprised.
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Could you explain what you mean that? We had four and half years of opportunities for goodwill and pragmatism.
BTW It's a shame that Frost and all the others forgot about Northern Ireland. The DUP has launched a campaign to scrap the NI Brexit Protocol.
No we didn’t growstuff as you well know. We had over 4 years of Brexit denial, Theresa the Appeaser in charge, the so called ‘meaningful votes’ in the HoC where nothing got passed and Donald Tusk telling us there was a special place in hell...
We’re out now.
Time to sort out some of the intransigence.
David Frost is pretty awesome in my book. I’ll fetch the popcorn.
Urmstongran
We’ll have to see how things progress I think MaizieD. Events can change very quickly as we’ve witnessed in the last few days....
With goodwill and pragmatism on both sides we might all be pleasantly surprised.
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We have left a rule based organisation. Many of its rules were made by the UK, ironically enough.
We are now a third country. Rules relating to third countries cannot be negotiated away. The EU has no reason to favour us over any other third country.
Why TF should the EU have any 'goodwill' towards the UK?
One day, the penny is going to drop.
Urmstongran
No we didn’t growstuff as you well know. We had over 4 years of Brexit denial, Theresa the Appeaser in charge, the so called ‘meaningful votes’ in the HoC where nothing got passed and Donald Tusk telling us there was a special place in hell...
We’re out now.
Time to sort out some of the intransigence.
David Frost is pretty awesome in my book. I’ll fetch the popcorn.
No, I don't know. What I can see is that you're rewriting history. And I bet you still can't come up with a tangible advantage. Ah well!
She's drunk the Kool-Aid, growstuff. There's no hope for her ?
I belong to a sewing group, one member, who lives in Spain has just written that she’s made her last purchase from a U.K. supplier. She has to pay an extra £94 tax on purchase of £130. Thank you Brexit.
Weren’t we told we would still have free trade, no border in the Irish Sea, take back our fishing waters etc etc.? what happened there? We all know it was all to keep out Romanian fruit pickers but why don’t they come out and say so.? As for joining a Pacific Ocean trade bloc - will we get a referendum on that?
Why TF should the EU have any 'goodwill' towards the UK? well maybe ‘goodwill’ was too strong a word to use for the EU MaizieD but money talks. Both ways. The exporters from Europe over to here are having an easy ride of it for the first six months - no checks etc - but their businesses won’t want all this nonsense at the ports! David Frost has been asked to coordinate this for a reason. Once he steps in you watch things improve!
And no, I haven’t drunk the Kool Aid, I’m just more of an optimist than you. Is that delusional of me? I don’t think so. I just happen to believe in Brexit. We’ve only been gone a month! Watch and learn (not to be such an Eeyore).
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Every sentence of your response demonstrates how deeply you've drunk the Kool-Aid, Ug.
If this were mumsnet my response to your final little bit of cheerfulness would be 'robust'...
Aah it seems Kool Aid is the new buzz word for those who voted remain ?
One month is far to soon to see the benefits of leaving the EU.
We were part of the cumbersome machine for over forty years, it will take more than forty days to move upwards and onwards.
It’s not even original GG13 KA was being used as a taunt last summer. Some oldies are late to the party and thinking its ‘cool’.
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So Brexit is a “belief” based on nothing but hope in eternal sunshine, and non believers are unpatriotic, traitors.
vegansrock
So Brexit is a “belief” based on nothing but hope in eternal sunshine, and non believers are unpatriotic, traitors.
If you say so!
Not at all vegansrock .... it’s about recognising that further negotiations will be ongoing. Red tape mistakes at European ports (full stops in the ‘wrong place’ on order forms for example) need clarification for border staff and smoothing out. All this is a process and I for one am delighted that the highly esteemed David Frost is about to pick up the reins. The EU won’t want this muddle going in the opposite direction come June!
Believers seem to have an infinite capacity to ignore all the evidence that might shake their belief. Even now there are millions of Americans who believe in Trump.
I am confident that with David Frost on the case the teething troubles will improve.
Post Brexit hiccupsare not the only things going on in Europe and the World at the moment, there is a pandemic along with Vaccine procurement problems and the upcoming French Elections (if they go ahead).
Varian and others who voted remain, I know this is something that you do not want to hear..............goods are still arriving at our ports everyday, goods are on our shelves.
Our business still has full shelves (we provide products from around the world as well as EU) as do our competitors.
The Covid pandemic has had far more of an impact on trade than any post-Brexit fallout in our industry.
Not according to the Governor of thw Bank of England (apponted by Johnso ). He warned that the damage which would be inflicted on our economy by a no deal brexit would be twice as bad as the damage due to covid. Although we have narrowly escaped no deal the brexit we have is based on a very thin deal. barely better than no deal so still likely to be more damagi g than the pandemic.
It is childish and absurd to suggest that those of us who opposed brexit want to see empty shelves in supermarkets. costs rising because of increased bureaocracy. soaring ynemployment or firms going bust. We never wanted any of these things.
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