Nigel James Watkins v Commissioners of Customs and Excise

Facts

The appellant, Nigel James Watkins, was stopped by Customs officers at Eastern Docks, Dover on 10 March 2002 while driving a Daihatsu vehicle carrying two passengers, Peter Watkins and Richard Watkins. Each traveller had bought a 6 kg box of hand rolling tobacco in Adinkerke, and the appellant had also bought 400 cigarettes. After interview, the officers concluded that the goods were not for own use — citing quantities in excess of the minimum indicative levels, frequency of travel, income not matching expenditure, and a previous seizure from Peter Watkins — and seized the goods and the vehicle. The appellant's solicitors sought restoration, relying on his remote home in Wales, his need for the vehicle for work, and his disabled father's dependence upon him; restoration was refused on 17 April 2002 and that refusal upheld on review on 5 June 2002. The appellant appealed by notice dated 2 July 2002. Following the Court of Appeal's decision in Hoverspeed, the tribunal directed a further review, which on 16 January 2003 varied the decision by offering the vehicle for restoration on payment of £1,795.98, the duty on 18 kg of tobacco and 400 cigarettes. The appellant paid that sum, recovered the vehicle, and appealed against the condition.