Steve Shovlar

Each year, around 2.5 million freight vehicles pass through the Port of Dover which equates to over 3,500 per day or 148 per hour going in each direction. Around 85% of these vehicles carry goods from the EU to the UK across the English Channel between Dover and Calais/Dunkirk. The Port of Dover says EU lorries are typically processed in around two minutes, whereas it takes 20 minutes or more to clear non-EU vehicles. Pre-Brexit, just 1% of traffic entering and leaving the port were subject to the full custom checks. Under pre-Brexit check-in conditions, with three check-in desks taking two minutes per EU freight vehicle, the queue was minimal. It reached a manageable maximum queue of 1,071 vehicles. However, when we modelled the impact of increasing check-in times from two minutes to four minutes for all vehicles, the queue drastically jumped to 52,396 freight vehicles – the equivalent of over two weeks’ worth of vehicles in a backlog. By further increasing the check-in time to the expected 20 minutes, the queue reached a colossal 70,594 vehicles, meaning that infrastructure was nearly 5x overstretched at 469% overcapacity, equivalent to a backlog of around 20 days. This is clearly unmanageable within the current infrastructure.' Supply Chain, website for the global supply chain and logistics industry, Jan 23rd 2021

I agree with your last paragraph. This government masquerading as a conservative gOver me ten has been atrocious in every possible way. A bunch of brexit supporters with virtually no ability are running the country and they are completely out of their depth in every fathomable way. Led by a hack who is quite frankly the worst prime minister in living history.

Thanks.

I didn’t say that. I said COVID would be a background virus next year as we would have all been vaccinated. Vaccination is already proving to be successful with lockdown. Once the population has all had its second dose the virus will no longer be the threat it currently is. And of course there will be repercussions on the economy. But just watch as other nations bounce back and the U.K. stutters and falls behind many other economies. Brexit is a disaster for the U.K economy. Much more so than COVID. And we are still waiting to see how we will all prosper greatly by being a little England in the big wide world.

Brexit will prove to be far worse than COVID on the U.K. economy. This time next year COVID will be a background virus like Flu. Lockdowns will be a thing of the past. But brexit will still be plaguing the economy for years and decades, until a political party has the guts to call a referendum and banish brexit to the failed far right wing idealism that it is.

COVID is not an issue, not for me anyway.. Certainly I have done well as people are home and on their computers with money to spend. brexit is far more serious economically than COVID, which will be gone this time next year.

Knit picking the best you can do? I read the story this morning and couldn’t remember the exact place, in the U.K, where the cheese maker was from. Does it make any difference? The article is true. The situation this business finds itself in is being repeated thousands of times over, every day. Meaning companies folding, loss of jobs, a shrinking economy and failure of brexit. We are all aware already that brexit is going to fail and drag many businesses over the edge. The city of London next. Banks will be heading to Germany in their droves of the deal doesn’t happen in March. And as for the Nissan plant, sorry to disappoint but I am glad there was some deal to save the place. No deal wto would have been unbearable for most of us.

Listen lads times are desperate. Buy some of my tatty painting pretty please. https://www.catawiki.com/u/1627897-funkibug I need a new Porsche. Tried to win one last week but crapped out on BOTB by three pixels. They had the cheek to only give me £230 of credits. Speedway related. Sort of. Jap engine. https://www.catawiki.com/l/44622423-lionel-rouse-1911-1984-girl-in-a-red-racing-car

For all these puns it’s devastating for U.K. business.

Depending on country vat is chargeable at 5% for antiques, yet that is not the case. Brexit is totally the cause of this issue.

The brexit issues just get worse by the minute. No proper government support whatsoever for business. A reply 48 hours directing you to guidance, which doesn’t help with the obvious issues. A classic brexit mess today. A West Country cheese manufacturer is going to have to sack his 30 staff and move to France to continue trading. He has lost £250,000 since brexit. Every delivery to the eu must be accompanied by a mountain of paperwork, and wait for it... a vet certificate at a cost of £150. And a large percentage of his buyers, individual citizens spending an average £30-40, still have to have a vets certificate with their orders.....at a price of £150. The company said it’s as though the government forgot that companies actually deal with real individual customers in the European Union. They said the help center couldn’t help them and just directed them to guidance. As for my business, well there are serious issues which are causing huge stress and trying to placate customers who are yet to receive their item this side of the New Year. Two items gave been returned to me so far. Both were posted just before Christmas and had plenty of time to arrive in Italy and Germany. But by the time they arrived in their respective countries, it was 4th January and both were refused because there was no brexit customs documents. EU have been very strict on labelling from the 1st day of brexit. I have been prepared as any other business working with the regulations. 98% of my customers are in the EU. Every parcel I have sent since 1st January has had severe delays. Parcels posted on the 5th January, are now arriving to be processed at their countries customs. With tracking of parcels completely vanishing once they have left the U.K., I have had to spend many hours just dealing with customers who are extremely worried that they have been ripped off/lost their money/their beautiful painting has been lost etc. Some customers contact me every single day. I just have no news for them other than to explain the situation. Once the item does get through customs, there is a handling fee and 20/21/22% vat on top of the price they paid for the item. They will not be happy as some of the paintings are well over €1000, meaning in unexpected fee of over €200. The issue here is most of the paintings are antique, meaning they have no vat to pay. Yet European customs are charging vat even though the declaration states its antique with no vat chargeable. I am just one very small business of hundreds of thousands, caught up in brexit red tape and the failure of this government to secure a proper deal for its people. Making sure there was no time for scrutiny meant that the issues now clearly on display could have been addressed. But no. Of course all this would have been major headlines but due to COVID a lot of this is not being reported and the harsh affects of brexit will be blamed of COVID. These issues, unlike COVID, will not go away and in a year or two the plight of the U.K. economy will be clear to see for all, as other countries recover leaving us lot bobbing around on our own. Sorry for length of post. CNN have just released an item on brexit. Makes interesting reading. https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/23/business/brexit-business-intl-gbr/index.html

That is simply not the case. Parcel to run by road. £20. Parcel sent by air. £78. Many businesses were delayed terribly by the closure of U.K. to EU border. In fact, the parcel I sent to Malta went via DPD air service on 4th January. Customer still to receive it.

Nothing to do with this side of the channel. All to do when it leaves the U.K. parcels I sent on the 4th January are just now clearing customs. With 20% added on top plus handling fees for my customers. How is that good for the hundreds of thousands of British businesses? Many of these businesses have already said their situation is becoming untenable, with their trade vanishing almost over night. I am just waiting for customers to refuse to pay the duty and demand refunds, costing me lost sales and the extra cost of returned parcels. Whist you are not directly affected, yet, it won’t be long before brexit starts affecting parts of your daily life, whether it’s increased prices at the supermarket and less choice or that item you ordered from outside the U.K. now has a customs fee attached which you need to pay before receiving. I have just had a customer in Malta message me asking to send him proof of origin of a painting customs are holding onto. They need to know that the painting was painted in the U.K., and get this, the frame was made in the U.K. This really is #brexitcarnage.

No use for stolen goods. What on earth was the guy expected to do with it? Couldn’t sell on open market. Hang it on the wall and admire?

Perhaps you would like to run a business sending up to 50 items a week to EU countries and see what’s happening. Of course every parcel is tracked. But when it says left hub on the 7th and no updates, your customers would get frustrated and angry. And when it does finally arrive, they will have to fork out a further 20% plus handing fees to receive it. And I was told today from the UPS driver that a company in Germany who has a branch in Poole, sent a stock delivery. The manager was billed £740 in customs and handling fees. So a business has to fork out for sending goods to itself. Brexit is really the gift that keeps on giving.