- News
- Reviews
- Bikes
- Accessories
- Accessories - misc
- Computer mounts
- Bags
- Bar ends
- Bike bags & cases
- Bottle cages
- Bottles
- Cameras
- Car racks
- Child seats
- Computers
- Glasses
- GPS units
- Helmets
- Lights - front
- Lights - rear
- Lights - sets
- Locks
- Mirrors
- Mudguards
- Racks
- Pumps & CO2 inflators
- Puncture kits
- Reflectives
- Smart watches
- Stands and racks
- Trailers
- Clothing
- Components
- Bar tape & grips
- Bottom brackets
- Brake & gear cables
- Brake & STI levers
- Brake pads & spares
- Brakes
- Cassettes & freewheels
- Chains
- Chainsets & chainrings
- Derailleurs - front
- Derailleurs - rear
- Forks
- Gear levers & shifters
- Groupsets
- Handlebars & extensions
- Headsets
- Hubs
- Inner tubes
- Pedals
- Quick releases & skewers
- Saddles
- Seatposts
- Stems
- Wheels
- Tyres
- Health, fitness and nutrition
- Tools and workshop
- Miscellaneous
- Buyers Guides
- Features
- Forum
- Recommends
- Podcast
Penny Mordaunt (Michael Hughes/DFID CC Attribution 2.0 Generic)Penny Mordaunt criticises "outrageous" £7,000 bike customs charge charity cyclists hit with in Spain
Newly-appointed Leader of the House of Commons — Penny Mordaunt — has criticised the Spanish customs authorities for slapping a group of charity cyclists from Wales with a £7,330 tariff when collecting their bikes ahead of a 600-mile ride raising money for Prostate Cymru, an unexpected fee which may see the club forced to fold.
Addressing the House of Commons for the first time in her new role, the former minister for international trade said the charge was "outrageous" and vowed to "do all I can to help to resolve and get compensation for the group".
Cyclists from the Tap It Out club, based out of a pub in Pyle, Bridgend, flew to Santander, in Cantabria on Spain's north coast, ahead of the challenge, while their bikes arrived by ferry.
> Cycling club arrives in Spain for charity ride... hit with £7,000 bike customs charge
However, the bikes were seized and the group told to pay "in excess of €10,000". Tap It Out considered abandoning the charity venture but ultimately paid €8,500 (£7,330) out of the club's accounts to get their bikes back, a decision head of the group, Nicky Morgan, said might "fold the club — shut it down".
The club received backing from Welsh politician Huw Irranca-Davies and Labour MP Chris Elmore who raised the situation with Mordaunt in Parliament this week. He said:
At the weekend, a group of cyclists from my constituency and the constituency of Dr Wallis were doing a fundraiser for Prostate Cymru, travelling from Wales to Portugal. When they arrived at customs in Santander, their bikes were seized and they were asked to pay in excess of €10,000 to release the bikes for the fundraising effort. Clearly, that has had a huge impact on the fundraising; the cyclists ended up paying €8,500 to release the bikes, which the whole House will agree is appalling.
It appears that it was to do with a post-Brexit form linked to importers trying to sell goods in Spain, but clearly this was a cycling fundraising event. I would be grateful if the Leader of the House could make representations to the Foreign Secretary about providing more support to charities such as Prostate Cymru about what forms need to be completed, and about working with the Spanish Government to ensure that does not happen again to much-needed funds for charities.
In response, Mordaunt said she was "sorry" to hear of the charge and insisted there was "no reason" for it, slamming it as "outrageous". Mordaunt said:
I am very sorry to hear of that. There is no reason why they should have had that difficulty — it is outrageous. I take this opportunity to remind hon. Members about the excellent consular service that the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office runs.
I had an incident where a constituent was in real danger. Through the consular service, within half an hour of me making that initial call, the local police force in the United States was on that individual's doorstep. I encourage people to use that facility, and I will do all I can to help to resolve and get compensation for the group of cyclists.
"My jaw just dropped"
Head of the group, Mr Morgan told the BBC that organising the trip had been "really stressful" without the added inconvenience and had been rescheduled twice due to Covid.
"We were doing a charity event. It never entered our minds that we were going to sell bikes or be accused of selling bikes. My jaw just dropped," he said.
Another of the riders, Rhys Lloyd, said he was representing his dad who usually rides with the club but is too ill to participate in this one. Mr Lloyd feels like the group has been "held for ransom" and paying the tariff will "bleed a big hole into the club". Another rider, who lost his mum and colleagues to cancer, said he just wanted to "raise funds and awareness".
Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.
Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.
Latest Comments
- stonojnr 1 sec ago
crazy that his own brief describes it as "his long suffering partner" also how come the two blokes he collected from the snooker club to assist in...
- stonojnr 8 min 9 sec ago
but in cases where you report other cyclists close passes, you literally are the witness to it, not the victim ?...
- S.E. 11 min 27 sec ago
1. It's obviously more aerodynamic, even a small backpack or hydration pack can help, there are studies about this....
- stonojnr 16 min 17 sec ago
theres an attitude I encounter alot locally, and demonstrated in bucket loads by drivers on my commute home tonight, that cyclists shouldnt be on...
- FionaJJ 36 min 27 sec ago
When I was a student it was virtually unheard of for someone to have a car. It wasn't even that it was considered a luxury that almost no-one could...
- Keesvant 1 hour 35 min ago
If the chains snap that is lack of build quality or material.....
- Hirsute 2 hours 31 min ago
"Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good."
- Jaijai 2 hours 56 min ago
His life was only worth shy of 7 years ,that's too lenient in every book .Let alone drugged up and leaving him to die
- webbierwrex 3 hours 1 min ago
I came here to basically write the same thing, the floating bus stop near me has a very narrow cycling lane between a very narrow pavement and a...
- AS52 3 hours 24 min ago
It wasn't an official consultation meeting - see my comment above.
Add new comment
48 comments
The definition of "Means of Transport" applies only to vehicles including bikes that are being driven or ridden at the border not transported by van trailer or even a bike rack... An ATA Carnet and security deposit of 40% of the value or an appropriate insurance is required for when temporary importing... This is the same problems touring bands are facing... Penny Mordaunt is a liar...even transportation of a car on a trailer or an electric bike in a motorhome are all at risk... And border control is catching up.. I am sorry but 'Welcome to the Brexit Sir'
As a Spanish taxpayer, I would like to say a big thank you very much to the club for its contribution to our exchequer. The British voted for Brexit and their government chose the hard-nut extreme version. I recommend that everybody reads the rules before visiting Europe.
While I've every sympathy for the club cyclists, it does come down to a case of not being aware of the rules, so it's not really a surprise.
Let's look at it from the point of view of the Spanish customs official involved. They're being met with a lad driving a van full of high value bikes. Customs take a very different view of goods that are accompanied versus those that aren't. Here in Ireland it's next to impossible for an individual to buy wine in Europe and have it shipped over here, yet I can drive over to France, and fill up the back of a van legally - though you still have to satisfy customs that it's for personal consumption if stopped. If as others have said, everybody had accompanied their own bikes on the ferry or flown with them, there'd probably have been no problem as I'm sure plenty of Brits have had a relatively straightforward experience doing this this year.
This is entirely the fault of BoJo The Clown and his fellow travellers. He could have pointed out in 2016 that this would be the case in the event of a hard Brexit, but oh-no, it was all a vaporous £350m/w into the NHS and keeping out undesirables (oh wait - what do you mean that they were the ones that pick the fruit that we now can't export anyway?). They drove the UK into the hardest of all Brexits, and are now trying to tear up the legally binding international treaty that they themselves negotiated, which threatening to make mincemeat of the other international treaty that has ensured a generation n NI haven't had to suffer 23 years of bloodshed.
It's also hurting British businesses. I can't buy at all from Spa any more at all, and I can't practically buy from SJS or Ribble, and I need to spend €150 to buy from Merlin. These would have been among my go-to online suppliers, but now it's all going to French/German sites.
So despite the shrieking of the Daily Heil and it's brethern, this is all down to the Lunativs (who) Have Taken Over The Asylum
Having spent the last 20 odd years in Spain i know that all departments of the Spanish Govt try to maximise income from the unwary.
This situation is entirely the fault of our government.
They should have been fully aware of these sorts of risks and properly publicised them before we left the single market. But of course they didn't want to because they don't want to admit there are any downsides to their glorious Brexit. It's so much easier to blame the foreigners for being difficult.
Not so sir. The EU rules for carrying bikes, motorbikes, cars and other forms of sporting/leisure vehicles into the EU are available online and seem clear to me. These rules were negotiated by the UK government well in advance of Brexit.
Article 158(2) of the Union Customs Code 1 along with Articles 139(1) and 141(1) (d) (iv) spell it out. In addition to this the European Commission recently issued an unequivocal statement on the matter and I quote, "Means of transport entering the EU temporarily and returning to the UK after a few weeks can be placed under temporary admission ..... no customs formalities are needed on entry or exit ..... VAT does not need to be paid."
So the fault certainly does not rest on the shoulders of our politicians, nor the EU goverments. Instead the customs officials in certain EU countries seem not to be aware of the regulations. These things have a way of sorting themselves out, but it will take time. Patience, as my mother would say, is a virtue.
That's all very well, but it is the responsibility of the politicians of the country that chose to make life more difficult for its citizens to work tirelessly to ensure that any agreements are properly respected by other countries. That requires skilled diplomacy and a willingness to show that we too will respect international agreements. It's far from obvious that this is the intention of the current government. Things really won't just sort themselves out without cooperation between governments.
I think this is clear that your means of transport when crossig the borders is exempt, not that anything that could ever be considered a means of transport is exempt.
15 chaps turn up with 15 bikes - "Yes this is my bike and I am taking it home again after my holiday" - no problem
One van with 15 bikes in the back - very different story, or we would see no customs payable on new cars coming in on the back of car transporters, also no charges for speedboats, scooters, helicopters, rollerskates etc.
Obviously, before, we were in the customs union and so these charges did not apply, now they do and while business can be reasonably expected to know this, private individuals may not.
I suspect if I took two bikes to france in my car and travelled alone, I would probably be OK.
Indeed sir. For the sake of brevity I omitted the section that describes permitted activities for the 'means of transport'. Holidays, leisure, trade shows, and sporting events should all be acceptable to local customs officers. Supplying businesses with their stock-in-trade or selling the goods is obviously outside the scope of the legislation.
For trade shows, sporting events, gigs etc, you have to have a carnet for your equipment. Everyone who is involved in these events knows this. Unfortunately they didn't know. No carnet, no entry unless you pay duty.
They are all professionals undertaking their trade.
This surely has an impact on the number of British cyclists who will now be willing to sign up for events in Spain, whether they be cycling events like the Mallorca 312, international events like European or world triathlon championships or other international events.
I don't believe post covid Spain would want their tourism industry impacted by the actions of their customs officials.
I doubt cyclist income is a big deal for Spain.
As I understand it - the cyclists didn't fill out the right paperwork. I'm sure British customs would be as inflexible.
At least the publicity of this should ensure others don't make this mistake.
not many people taking vans full of bikes to mallorca. Anyone travelling on a flight with their own bike will be fine. (aside from baggage handling issues, which this group were probably trying to avoid)
The rules for taking sports equipment to Europe now are quite frankly a nightmare - my rowing club spent a huge chunk of money and an enormous amount of time getting our two trailers to Spain for training camp earlier this year. The 'carnet' requirements to prove you're not taking stuff to Europe to sell are insane; we had to detail every item on the trailers and there was a moment where the guys driving them were asked to unload the boats, which would have been impossible as there were four of them and it takes a couple of hours for 20-30 people to load the trailers in the first place. And then you have to make sure that everything goes back in the same place, so they can inspect to make sure you really haven't sold anything.
Hadn't thought that the same rules would apply to bikes, but I guess it kind of makes a post-Brexit warped sense.
The rules are not 'now quite frankly a nightmare'. The rules were always there and apply to all 3rd countries. The UK was conned into believeing that leaving the EU would 'bring back their freedom'. Exactly the opposite happened - you lost your freedom.
In the interest of pedantry - we haven't lost freedom. There are fewer rules we need to abide by (or could be; I think many EU rules were added to UK law at transition to maintain continuity). However access to some EU resources was lost and many interactions with the EU and others are now much more onerous and expensive.
I wasn't sold on the advantage of this change - nor were others in Scotland overall. However we're currently in another union... and people in England definitely did say "leave". So here we are.
In the interests of pedantry let's be pedantic. Prior to your brexitty thing you were free to take your bikes to Spain. And you you could have sold your bikes in a local market or on a local exchange site. Or you could a bought a bike and cycled it back to wherever you chose in the EU. You could have walked into Spain with 1 euro in your pocket or 1000 Euros. You were free to sit on the beach all day and busk for a living or you could have set up a business or invested in someone else's business. You were free to open a bank account. You were free to drive with your own licence and all your qualifications were recognised locally. You could have bought a second home and spent six months of the year watching the sunset. You could have bought five homes and rented them out to holiday makers. You could visit the local hospital free of charge. You were free to send your children to school without anyone asking you for a residency permit. You were free to study in any university in Spain and you would have received the same grants and terms as a local. You were free to come and go in 27 neighbouring countries as you wished and with as many bikes as you could carry. Many of those things can still be done. But you require permissions and there are limits, restrictions and costs attached.
Pfffft - those are not the freedoms that a huge majority voted for in a completely frank and honest referendum.
I've never been sure exactly why most people in England and Wales voted for this.
Short term there are some obvious losses to individuals / businesses. However not everyone was using these "freedoms". Clearly they weren't the main thing the majority of "No" voters were worried about. In the longer term there is gain is in local political freedom as we can take more imporant decisions e.g. different laws from the rest of the union.
My main beef with Brexit was that our Westminster politicians would set about using their new-found freedoms to do things I'm not keen on - such as reducing people's rights and reducing checks on large corporations* etc. That seems to apply at least in part to both main Westminster parties. Looking at countries like Hungary and Poland - "socially conservative" with some particular economics - makes you wonder what Brexiteers felt they were missing?
Done deal now though.
* Over whom we've even less control than we have over the state.
My opinion is that the majority of Brexit voters did it because of immigration. I'm not saying that everyone who voted for it is racist, but the racists were pro-Brexit.
I think some leave voters did it for racist reasons but that just goes to show how ignorant racist people are.
Our immigration system while in the EU made immigration from majority white countries unlimited where as immigration from majority non white countries was constantly made more difficult so the goverment could claim to be in control of immigration numbers.
Obviously I'm basing this on what I think most people would consider racism, not the legal definition. I only discovered the legal definition when i first joined this site and questioned why the Welsh driver who told a cyclist "go back to England" or something similar was convicted of racist abuse.
Exactly this.
Probably the only time racists and people of asian descent were on the same side of the argument.
Racists were sold on controlling immigration.
People from South Asian communities wanted it to be easier for their friends and relatives to come, by removing the advantages of EU nationals.
Well, the fact the rules now apply to us is a nightmare - or at the least a massive, expensive headache which many of us did not vote for. Many of us were aware that we would lose a lot of freedom by leaving, which is why we voted to stay. We lost, and we lost more than just that vote.
If only the cost to the UK of Brexit was confined to a trifling £7k.
A Brexit supporting politician is denying that the Brexit she wanted is causing problems for UK nationals in effect, despite the fact that had the UK remained in the EU, this wouldn't have happened.
"There is no reason why they should have had that difficulty"
Sadly there is. They needed to fill out a form (and pay over £300 for the privilege of doing so) to avoid the charge. Why? Brexit, of course. But this isn't the first time she's lied about that, and I doubt it'll be the last.
So £300 for a vehicle load of bikes complying with the Carnet rules; weight, value, type of goods, country of origin, or £7,000 for not complying , hmm, let me think what I would do...
Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance
Pages