Customs road block at Burnfoot

Graces7

ryanstewart wrote: »

Please show your support to the campaign to get VRT abolished...waves are being made in Donegal...and the customs are out again today.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=114939931865765&ref=nf

It was also on national radio last night on Newstalk 106.

No thanks; and as we read here last week, this is going on for three weeks.

It is called law enforcement and is perfectly in order.

Essexboy

Graces7 wrote: »

No thanks; and as we read here last week, this is going on for three weeks.

It is called law enforcement and is perfectly in order.

Admirable sentiments but how do you stand on planning retention?
this is where someone erects a building without planning permission, then asks for approval afterwards.
Do you think that such buildings should be demolished? it is the same principle as VRT.

smashey

Essexboy wrote: »

Admirable sentiments but how do you stand on planning retention?
this is where someone erects a building without planning permission, then asks for approval afterwards.
Do you think that such buildings should be demolished? it is the same principle as VRT.

Point of order here. Being able to apply for retention is part of planning law. There is no such retrospective scheme for VRT payments. Once a car is brought into the country, it is liable.

Graces7

Essexboy wrote: »

Admirable sentiments but how do you stand on planning retention?
this is where someone erects a building without planning permission, then asks for approval afterwards.
Do you think that such buildings should be demolished? it is the same principle as VRT.

Having had to move twice already because of unplanned buildings...

In the Uk they would be demolished, and I would welcome that.

Graces7

smashey wrote: »

Point of order here. Being able to apply for retention is part of planning law. There is no such retrospective scheme for VRT payments. Once a car is brought into the country, it is liable.

Then the law (planning) is as Dickens would say, is a ASS.

That is a truly stupid law. Sigh......

smashey

Graces7 wrote: »

Having had to move twice already because of unplanned buildings...

In the Uk they would be demolished, and I would welcome that.

Sorry Grace but they have something similar in the UK. It isn't called retention and I can't remember what they refer to it as.

Graces7 wrote: »

Then the law (planning) is as Dickens would say, is a ASS.

Tut tut. I'm shocked at your language.

Graces7

smashey wrote: »

Sorry Grace but they have something similar in the UK. It isn't called retention and I can't remember what they refer to it as.

Well. often in the UK they make them demolish anyways.. IF it would not pass planning maybe?

Tut tut. I'm shocked at your language.

Now then! I almost explained that what Dickens was meaning was a DONKEY. The onus of interpretation of the word ass is yours thus!!! lol!1 Tis Dickens not I!

Irony here and timing; just learned that the large building opposite where the activities have been causing us grief the last 6 months... yep; put up without any planning permission.

I should have checked sooner of course.

It is breaking all kinds of laws etc. Donegal Co Co is snowed under with this kind of thing

Graces7

Getting back to the thread topic... saw a gathering of luminous jackets outside LIDL early y'day, Donegal, so maybe they were lining up for their latest encounter with the public.

ryanstewart

That's minimum wage give or take grace, try feeding a family of four on that, pay your mortgage, electric, etc! and then keep an car on the road to earn it in the first place!

muffler

Guys/gals if you are not going to stay on topic then Im locking this.

I realise that its an emotive issue for some people but there are threads in other forums on all the other matters that have been discussed here that have nothing to do with this thread.

Be nice and play fair.

Graces7

muffler wrote: »

Guys/gals if you are not going to stay on topic then Im locking this.

I realise that its an emotive issue for some people but there are threads in other forums on all the other matters that have been discussed here that have nothing to do with this thread.

Be nice and play fair.

I keep trying, muffler!

But they keep putting temptation in my path!!:eek:

ShowMeTheCash

I am going to give my two bits on this.

I have been stopped by customs twice for driving my northern reg car in Donegal, on the last occasion I had to go to office in Letterkenny to prove I lived in Derry. At the time I was at uni living in Derry but my parents live at home in Donegal, so I could be up and down a few times a week.

Customs officer basically called me lier told me he I was living in Donegal and I had 14 days to bring documentation to prove I was living in Derry otherwise if they stopped me again they would take my car. My Northern Ireland licence was not enough - I landed up with my documentation, rent agreement, bills etc... guy looked at me like I was scum, sat around for 30 mins was not really told anything, they photo-copied my stuff said if I am in donegal more than 4 days a week I need to change the car over or they can take the car then told me I could go.

This now brings me to VRT in general.
Ireland bascially changed import tax to vrt, being import tax is technically illeagal where the duty has already been paid, the irish government decided to change it a little saying it is not an import tax but a registration tax.

It is worth pointing out, when you take a car over and pay the VRT you are not allowed to sell that car for a period of 12months or more not 100% sure of the exact time frame.

The law around this is nothing more than a way to extort money from the irish people and contol where they spend their money, if the irish government thought they could do it, they would sit on the road to Newry and empty cars off goods, the up shot of this is, people like me who have moved into northern ireland being harassed anytime I come home to visit or stay. Huge tail backs causing people to be late for work. The idea a customs officer can follow you to a bank link and take money off you seems crazy to me??

And this does happen I remember watching this happen on that customs show on RTE, this is the kind of stuff you would expect to happen in some dodgy country where you pay the police off if you have been arrested!

Now the argument "Well if people just paid it and stopped breaking the law it would not happen".

Ireland side stepped this law and the manner in which they are trying to inforce it, is a disgrace!

Pique

ShowMeTheCash wrote: »

It is worth pointing out, when you take a car over and pay the VRT you are not allowed to sell that car for a period of 12months or more not 100% sure of the exact time frame.

Now I hate VRT as much as the next person BUT, the point you made above is incorrect.
If you import a car and are exempt for VRT, THEN you are not allowed to sell the car within 2 years I think. If you import the car and pay the VRT, you can sell it in the carpark outside if you so wish.

Graces7

ShowMeTheCash wrote: »

I am going to give my two bits on this.

I have been stopped by customs twice for driving my northern reg car in Donegal, on the last occasion I had to go to office in Letterkenny to prove I lived in Derry. At the time I was at uni living in Derry but my parents live at home in Donegal, so I could be up and down a few times a week.

Customs officer basically called me lier told me he I was living in Donegal and I had 14 days to bring documentation to prove I was living in Derry otherwise if they stopped me again they would take my car. My Northern Ireland licence was not enough - I landed up with my documentation, rent agreement, bills etc... guy looked at me like I was scum, sat around for 30 mins was not really told anything, they photo-copied my stuff said if I am in donegal more than 4 days a week I need to change the car over or they can take the car then told me I could go.

This now brings me to VRT in general.
Ireland bascially changed import tax to vrt, being import tax is technically illeagal where the duty has already been paid, the irish government decided to change it a little saying it is not an import tax but a registration tax.

It is worth pointing out, when you take a car over and pay the VRT you are not allowed to sell that car for a period of 12months or more not 100% sure of the exact time frame.

The law around this is nothing more than a way to extort money from the irish people and contol where they spend their money, if the irish government thought they could do it, they would sit on the road to Newry and empty cars off goods, the up shot of this is, people like me who have moved into northern ireland being harassed anytime I come home to visit or stay. Huge tail backs causing people to be late for work. The idea a customs officer can follow you to a bank link and take money off you seems crazy to me??

And this does happen I remember watching this happen on that customs show on RTE, this is the kind of stuff you would expect to happen in some dodgy country where you pay the police off if you have been arrested!

Now the argument "Well if people just paid it and stopped breaking the law it would not happen".

Ireland side stepped this law and the manner in which they are trying to inforce it, is a disgrace!

In Canada they are comparing the methods used to Mexico...

But the only way to get this changed through the set channels. So why criticise those who do pay because it is the law now?

We do so for very good reasons. To stay on the road and travel freely, which is what having a car is about.

We cannot all be protestors.

North_West_Art

Guy I know had his car lifted 2 days ago, it cost him €9,000 to get it back. It is a BMW, and a pretty high spec one I think. The customs left him standing at the side of the road, also he didn't have a phone with him and the customs refused to let him make a call on theirs. Wonder will they start doing the same with houses later in the year? Its turning into a real nice country folks

Mr. Presentable

North_West_Art wrote: »

Guy I know had his car lifted 2 days ago, it cost him €9,000 to get it back. It is a BMW, and a pretty high spec one I think. The customs left him standing at the side of the road, also he didn't have a phone with him and the customs refused to let him make a call on theirs. Wonder will they start doing the same with houses later in the year? Its turning into a real nice country folks

Do you feel sorry for him?

I don't. If I was in charge he'd get jail for tax evasion until the VRT was paid also.

ShowMeTheCash

Graces7 wrote: »

In Canada they are comparing the methods used to Mexico...

But the only way to get this changed through the set channels. So why criticise those who do pay because it is the law now?

We do so for very good reasons. To stay on the road and travel freely, which is what having a car is about.

We cannot all be protestors.

I am not criticising people who pay VRT and criticising the methods in which it is being extracted from people!

ShowMeTheCash

Pique wrote: »

Now I hate VRT as much as the next person BUT, the point you made above is incorrect.
If you import a car and are exempt for VRT, THEN you are not allowed to sell the car within 2 years I think. If you import the car and pay the VRT, you can sell it in the carpark outside if you so wish.

Yes I think you might be right about this - as at one point I was concidering moving home, as I had my car a few years i did not need to pay VRT but I could not sell the car either for a period of 18months or two years.

But the question still remains why? Again just another way to extort money - If i was to move back and say 8 months in my car is giving me trouble I cannot sell it??
These laws are unpracticle and again are put in place to control where people spend their money, another form of protectionism, send your money in ireland if you don't we will find a way to tax you.

The petrol stations around the border have for years made money on people from the north coming down for cheap fuel, it would be like the UK Customs sitting on the border telling UK cars they are not allowed to purchase fuel in the ROI without paying a tax!!

muffler

North_West_Art wrote: »

Wonder will they start doing the same with houses later in the year?

Too late...............

North_West_Art

I'll have to make a few trips to the ATM guys :pac:

killerbeg

I imported a car a couple of years ago. The customs agent could not have been more surly, I had been warned about their attitude though and had brought all the required documentation and separately a letter from my solicitor testifying that I had lived in the UK for a number of years etc. Having read this he said 'I suppose I'll have to process this then'. I think the earlier poster was right in that the customs personnel really don't want to do any paperwork and would prefer to fob people off.

waffleman

Just because VRT "is the law" doesnt give make it right for these customs gaboons to be throwing people out of their cars and escorting people to bank machines.

It's a sad state of affairs that our goverment is still charging VRT inflating the cost of business here. Lenihan already lost us 100s of millions with his VAT blunder.

You can't tax your way out of a depression - it doesnt work. Spending needs to be cut instead but that'd mean the government lowering their own wages and taking away all their allowances and pensions so that ain't goin to happen if they can help it (at least until they are voted out anyway)

So what's the alternative? Try and extort as much as you can from the people for as long as you can.

Guy:Incognito

waffleman wrote: »

Just because VRT "is the law" doesnt give make it right for these customs gaboons to be throwing people out of their cars and escorting people to bank machines.

.

But yet it give speopel the right to drive aroudn in breach of the law?

ShowMeTheCash wrote: »

Yes I think you might be right about this - as at one point I was concidering moving home, as I had my car a few years i did not need to pay VRT but I could not sell the car either for a period of 18months or two years.

But the question still remains why? Again just another way to extort money - If i was to move back and say 8 months in my car is giving me trouble I cannot sell it??

You can sell it anytime you like, you'll just have to pay the VRT.

Otherwse peoples family would be coming here to live but decide to leave again a few days later, reregister the car and give it to the person living here. Thus avoiding VRT.

waffleman

Stekelly wrote: »

But yet it give speopel the right to drive aroudn in breach of the law?

Did I say that? No I didn't so take your incorrect statement/question + smiley somewhere else.

What I will say is customs officials should not be stopping people on their way to work in the morning or mothers dropping their kids off at school and confiscating their vehicles on the spot.

North_West_Art

nipplenuts wrote: »

Do you feel sorry for him?

I don't. If I was in charge he'd get jail for tax evasion until the VRT was paid also.

I was going to leave this, but I can't resist... by your logic, you would cost the taxpayer €2000 per week (the cost of keeping someone in prison per week in ROI), so if he got a month in the slammer, his fine of €9000 would almost cover the costs

Guy:Incognito

waffleman wrote: »

Did I say that? No I didn't so take your incorrect statement/question + smiley somewhere else.

What I will say is customs officials should not be stopping people on their way to work in the morning or mothers dropping their kids off at school and confiscating their vehicles on the spot.

How is that different to what I said?

Shoudl they be waiting till a convenient time when someone breaks the law doesnt have to be inconvenienced?

Why are mothers illegally driving their kids to school? They obviously care more about having the car they want (and presumably can't afford to buy here if the sobstories are to belived)than makign sure their kids never have to walk to school.

Durnish

sure, why are these people, the top dollar BMW owner, the ma on the way to school, not supporting the local economy by buying their cars in Donegal, ROI?
Render unto Caesar and so on.

Guy:Incognito

Durnish wrote: »

sure, why are these people, the top dollar BMW owner, the ma on the way to school, not supporting the local economy by buying their cars in Donegal, ROI?
Render unto Caesar and so on.

To be honest, I dont care where they buy their cars or anythign else. But if they choose to break the law they have no comback when caught. Whinging and moaning with sob stories about the poor kids don't wash.

Durnish

never mind the poor suckers who have paid up!

Durnish

why should they tolerate the dodgers?