Brooks England has released a statement responding to 'misleading claims' that the saddle manufacturer is no longer selling products in the UK post-Brexit. On Sunday, Brooks suspended sales from orders made through the brand's website but confirmed on Monday that this would not affect products sold through their premium dealers. They cannot sell products in the UK through their website as the company is owned by Selle Italia and despite products being made in the UK, they are dispatched from Italy. Consequently, changes in the UK’s cross-border VAT rules, that coincided with Britain’s departure from the EU single market, led Brooks to temporarily suspend sales to the UK.
The iconic saddle brand reiterated this message this afternoon saying in a statement: "Recent news reports, stating that Brooks is no longer selling products in the United Kingdom post-Brexit, have given us the opportunity to respond to misleading claims and clarify the situation.
"Due to changes in the UK’s cross-border VAT rules, that coincided with Britain’s departure from the EU single market, we were forced, quite unfortunately, to temporarily suspend e-commerce sales to the UK as of 1 January to properly analyse the situation and react to the new changes and bureaucracy.
"Again, to avoid confusion, we would like to restate that this measure ONLY affects the owned ecommerce website brooksengland.com, not our UK distributor, shops or online sellers. Passionate cyclists across the UK can rest assured that our products will remain available during this period, as we will continue serving the UK market offline through our Brooks Premium Dealers network and online through our best partners."
On Saturday, we reported that Dutch Bike Bits, a bike parts website, had stopped shipping to the UK beacuse of the same change in VAT rules, meaning that they now ship to every country in the world except the UK.