Hauliers Say HMRC Needs a "Bomb Up Their Arse" Over Brexit

7 August 2019, 19:41

Hauliers have said HMRC needs "a bomb up their arse" after months of "incoherent" communication to traders ahead of Brexit.

The statement comes after Cabinet ministers met organisations including the Road Haulage Association (RHA) in Dover to discuss preparations for Brexit at the border.

A Road Haulage Association spokesman said a no-deal Brexit means drivers may end up waiting in queues for more than 48 hours with no welfare facilities.

Duncan Buchanan, policy director for the RHA in England and Wales, was among those who met Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Michael Gove, Home Secretary Priti Patel and Transport Secretary Grant Shapps at the Port of Dover.

He said the ministers wanted to hear about the challenges and problems faced by those represented at the meeting.

Mr Buchanan told the press: "We were really clear. I personally raised the issues of unclear, incoherent communication from HMRC and other parts of Government.

"I pointed out that there is no definition of what is 'border ready', so a lorry that comes here that's supposed to be border ready and supposed to have all of its paperwork in order - how can it have its paperwork in order when the people at the exporters and the people who are doing the logistics don't have any definition of what is required to actually transit the border?"

Mr Buchanan warned that the government department responsible for creating rules and regulations relating to customs documentation "HMRC in particular, need a bomb up their arse to really start thinking about the complete and total absence of coherent information that traders can use."