Jerzy Wesolowski v The Commissioners for HMRC

Facts

The appellant, Jerzy Wesolowski, traded as "Uslugi Transportowe", a Polish transport business. On 3 April 2017 Border Force officers stopped a 7.5 tonne lorry owned by the appellant at Dover Eastern Docks, driven by his employee Mr Dariusz Kostka. The load was manifested as car parts but was found to contain 64 boxes holding 1,333.5 kg of hand rolling tobacco; the goods and vehicle were seized. Mr Kostka had been approached at a service station in Luxembourg by a man called "Peter" and had passed the contact to the appellant's freight forwarder, Mr Przemyslaw Milasz, who accepted the job for €500 in cash. The load was collected from a warehouse, a CMR was completed bearing the appellant's stamp as carrier, and the ferry crossing was arranged and paid for by the appellant's business. HMRC assessed the appellant to excise duty of £279,728 under regulation 13 of the Excise Goods (Holding, Movement and Duty Point) Regulations 2010 on 6 November 2018, upheld on review on 25 January 2019. A penalty of £153,850 was withdrawn. The appeal was stayed behind the reference to the Court of Justice of the European Union in HMRC v WR, and the appellant then argued he was never in physical possession of the goods.