info re lost luggage

[steveuk 0]

I need some help.

The airline that my daughter went on holiday with lost her luggage only to find it some 24hrs later when she checked her suitcase the only thing missing was the cigarrete's that she had bought some 800.

My question is are customs allowed to open someone's bag and remove item's without contacting the owner first.

steveuk

[Marky 0]

Yep Customs can do pretty much whatever they like - they have similar powers to the Police.  How about claiming on your Holiday Insurance?

[bigdelta 46]

Yes they can open a bag either in the passenger's presence,or in another case,in the presence of an airline employee when a bag is not accompanied;in the case of a bag and passenger being separated for whatever reason.That's how airlines clear international bags thru Customs.That's how it is here in the States and most civilized countries.Customs cannot remove any item w/o 1st advising their intention and if duty is due,you must pay.They cannot just STEAL contents.

John

[Guest]

Steveuk,

 

Firstly, customs are allowed to open your bags and impound any items subject to duty including the means of transporting those goods whether it is a bag, vehicle or clothing.  I assume the ciggies were subject to duty i.e. purchased outside the EU.

 

The customs could have held the bags and the contents until such time as duty had been paid.  I can't see why anyone would wish to buy ciggies abroad and then pay the UK duty on them as there would be absolutely no cost savings involved ...... unless of course the intention was to avoid paying duty in the first place.

 

There has been an interesting court ruling recently which indicates that HMC are not allowed to search your (accompanied) bags on an ad-hoc basis - they must have reasonable grounds for suspecting that you are contravening the law.  Whilst this applied mainly to the booze cruise type shoppers within the EU (between UK and France/Belgium) your friend's bags were in fact unaccompanied and could be treated in the same way as any other unaccompanied baggage i.e. subject to HMC inspection.  At the end of the day the 800 ciggies could just as easily have been a couple of kgs of drugs - in that case would you expect HMC to contact the owner prior to opening the bags?

 

Tom

[steveuk 0]

Thanks guys for the info i will have to give up the dreaded weed until jan when i arrive back in thailand and pay 60bht a packet.

steveuk :-[

[Marky 0]

Why not just quit completely?

[anic 0]

Steve,

 

are u actually certain those ciggis went to customs? They (I suppose any 'civilised' at least) would leave some note.

 

My experience is that in quite a few places around the world (in my case Bombay, 10 yrs back) there's folks on the airfields 'checking' your baggage for valuables as well - and taking them out, no matter about customs regulations  >

 

And you don't actually know, where that case went, do you? Might have been Nicaragua.

 

That was pretty common for the baggage - space of thai overland busses as well...

[sprinter 1]

Anic,

Happen to me on a bus to Chang Mai one time.  Had a small padlock but didn't seem to be a problem for them.  Everything was intact when I arrived, padlock in place but some contents where wet, yet the bag was dry, did notice floor of underspace was wet so 1+1=? Fortunately all valuables were with me in the bus.

Ronnie

[nidnoyham 30]

Steve,

When a passenger arrives without baggage in U.K the Airline agent should fill out a C3 Customs delclaration form wich the passenger signs. This form asks if there are any dutiable goods in the missing bag, the form is kept by the Agent and presented to the clearing officer, the officer then uses his discretion to open bag or just let it go through. His first concern is where baggage came from, if from one of the hotspots for drugs ie. Jamaica, Iran, Pakistan,yes and Thailand it is more likely to be inspected. If any dutiable items are taken from the bag, the officer will fill a form in as a reciept and this is handed to the Airline, this can be asked for by the passenger to pay the duty within 6 weeks,but it means going to the customs warehouse at Heathrow with the form, so most people dont bother, if items are declared the passenger can go to the red chanel with Agent and find out duty due, customs will not take payment until goods arrive, so a cheque may be left with c3 form and when baggage arrives it is cleared with dutiable items.

 

It is amazing how valuable a bag is when first missing, but how worthless it is when it comes to filling out a customs declaration, suddenly all that jewelery, is just imitation,and the Cartier watch is in the bag they have.

hope this clears some misunderstanding