Brexit: UK retailers consider burning goods returned from EU due to red tape

The BBC said many European customers were rejecting goods imported from the UK after being presented with unexpected customs charges when signing for them.

The broadcaster cites figures from Statista showing about 30% of items bought online are returned, meaning large volumes of goods are turned around.

Retailers are then met with more customs paperwork and charges upon the goods’ arrival back in the UK, with UK Fashion & Textile Association chief Adam Mansell telling the BBC it is “cheaper for retailers to write off the cost of the goods than dealing with it all, either abandoning or potentially burning them”.

He added: “It’s part of the ongoing small print of the deal. If you’re in Germany and buying goods from the UK, you as the German customer are the importer bringing goods into the EU.

“You then have a courier company knocking on the door giving you a customs clearance invoice that you need to pay to receive your goods.”

READ MORE: Scottish voters want to regain EU rights lost to Brexit as priority, poll shows

The SNP said this "speaks volumes of how bad Brexit is for business".

Mansell said further customs paperwork facing UK retailers when goods are returned includes an “export clearance charge, import charge arrival, import VAT charge and, depending on the goods, a rules of origin document as well.

“Lots of large businesses don’t have a handle on it, never mind smaller ones.”

Close to 30% of small British firms have stopped shipping goods to the EU amid widespread confusion about customs forms and extra costs, according to accountants UHY Hacker Young.

In a statement to the BBC, the Government said: “We have encouraged companies new to dealing with customs declarations to appoint a specialist to deal with import and export declarations on their behalf – and we made more than £80m available to expand the capacity of the customs agents market.

“The Government will continue to work closely with businesses to ensure they are able to trade effectively under the new rules.”

READ MORE: Poll: Over two-thirds of Scots think Brexit deal is bad for fishing industry

The SNP’s Shadow Business spokesperson, Drew Hendry, said: “From businesses right through to consumers, the Tories disastrous Brexit deal is delivering a severe financial blow and imposing eye-watering costs and delays.

“Reports that some firms could resort to ditching goods - or go as far as burning them - because it’s cheaper than having them returned from the EU, speaks volumes of how bad Brexit is for business. 

“Previously, firms and customers were able to purchase and return products with ease across the EU - Brexit has made that a thing of the past, with customers and firms paying the price. 

“Scotland can do so much better than the Brexit mess being imposed upon us against our will. The only way to properly protect our interests is to become an independent country and part of the EU.”

The Times reported today that thousands of internet shoppers face eye-watering additional costs - including customs, VAT and delivery charges - on orders from the EU. 

Goods costing more than £135 can be subject to customs duties of up to 25% of the product cost. Meanwhile, delivery firms are adding additional 'handling fees' to cover the cost of customs clearance - with Royal Mail charging £8, DHL charging 2.5% or a minimum of £11, and TNT adding £4.31 to all shipments.

Scotland's fishing sector is furious with Tory ministers, who they feel have forced them to accept the “worst of both worlds” according to a letter from the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation.

The group wrote to the Prime Minister warning of “huge disappointment and a great deal of anger about your failure to deliver on promises made repeatedly to this industry”.

On Monday a fleet of lorries from across the West Coast and beyond headed to England to protest outside Downing Street over fears they may be driven out of business.

One lorry, with the slogan "Brexit Carnage", was parked just metres from Downing Street.

READ MORE: Shellfish lorries park outside Downing Street in protest against Brexit chaos 

Humza Yousaf said the image should "haunt" the Scottish Tories, adding: "Forget the Brexit lies Boris slapped on to side of a bus - here is the Brexit truth on the side of lorries from seafood and fisheries industry.

"These images should haunt the Scot Tories, your betrayal will not be forgotten."

Analysis from the Scottish Government found that the UK Government's Brexit deal will result in a fall in the quantity of key fishing stocks landed, such as cod, haddock, whiting and saithe.

The deal means that the Scottish fishing industry will have access to fewer fishing opportunities than under the existing Common Fisheries Policy arrangements – even at the end of the five and a half year adjustment period.

Boris Johnson’s £23 million compensation fund for those who “have faced difficulties exporting where there is a genuine willing buyer” has already been dismissed by the SNP, with shadow environment, food and rural affairs spokesperson Deidre Brock stating it was “a compensation minnow when the industry needed a whale”.

Yesterday The National revealed that the Tory Environment Secretary has bowed to pressure from the SNP and will now face scrutiny on his party's recovery plan after the Brexit chaos facing food firms.

George Eustice is to appear at the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Select Committee after receiving a letter from SNP MP Dave Doogan.

In a letter to the chair of the EFRA Committee, Doogan said the group should “urgently scrutinise” the “deteriorating situation of Scottish and other UK exports... rotting and having to be dumped for failing to make it through the new bureaucracy to their EU markets”.

READ MORE: Tory Environment Secretary to be scrutinised on Brexit chaos after SNP pressure

Exports of fresh fish and seafood have been severely disrupted by delays since the UK’s transition period ended on December 31, with seafood producers growing increasingly frustrated at the lack of Government action.

Lorries transporting freshly-caught produce have been held up at distribution hubs and many have struggled to enter into France.

Doogan, who is the SNP's spokesperson on Agriculture and Rural Affairs, made the plea over concern that the EFRA Committee had not yet scheduled a date to look into export problems experienced by Scottish seafood, meat companies and agricultural producers. 

Following his letter, Doogan received confirmation that Eustice will appear before the committee within a week.

It comes as the SNP urged the Tories to  "eat some humble pie" and offer support to the fishing industry in the Commons on Thursday morning.

READ MORE: SNP urge Tories to 'eat some humble pie' and support fishing industry

SNP MP Neil Gray said: “This Government has followed up its sell-out of Scotland’s fishing communities with this £23m insult. The industry is losing more than four times that every day, they’re losing customers with it.

“This was the one industry we were told would benefit from Brexit. So why won’t the Government act now, act quickly, eat some humble pie and re-establish barrier-free rapid access to the European market for this industry so it can finally supply to their customers again?”

Eustice responded: “With the support that we’ve given industry to iron out some of the issues they’ve been having, the flow of goods is now continuing. DFDS, in particular, have been very successful at transporting salmon to the European Union.”

SNP MP Stuart C McDonald, who represents Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East, warned of an entire fishing industry being “destroyed” if ministers do not fix technology at customs clearance.

Speaking in the Commons via video link, he said: “Scotland’s high quality seafood producers are warning that they’re going out of business. They can’t have their products sitting in lorry parks in Kent waiting for customs clearance, those products have to reach market fresh."