Help!!Camcorder er taken by Heathrow customs
 

My son was returning from Dubai yesterday and had his camcorder taken by customs. He was told to fill out a form and they would mail it back to him. They took all of his video tapes also! Anyone else ever encountered this?

See Girlspytravel, the UK DO take security measures seriously!!!

Josie, I wouldn't worry about it, i'm sure he will get it back. Did he buy the camcorder in Dubai? Did he declare it? I imagine he was searched in the green lane because he was coming from the Middle East.

Yes he bought it there. I don't know if he declared it. He's been there for 2 months in school. Now he's in England for a week. He's going to check customs at Heathrow on his return home to Canada.

This is really really ridiculous. Please keep us informed. My daughter will be passing through LHR on her way back from MXP.

I know I thought it was crazy too I am going to Scotland in 3 weeks and am having second thoughts on bringing my camcorder since I also will be traveling through Heathrow, Maybe it has to do with travel coming from a Middle Eastern country.

Was he taping in the customs hall?

It is strictly prohibited to use any cameras and cellphones during immigration/customs check and there are warning signs stating that the cameras/phones may be taken away if are being used.

When you go from overseas on vacation to the EU, you will not "import" your camcorder. You will, of course, just use it, and take it back home with you.

The Middle East has been only so far an issue as this region is not part of the EU.
You can go from the EU to Dubai, shop till you drop, and then return to the EU - but you will have to declare the camcorders, watches, whatever - if their value exceeds some $300. And you will have to pay (in this case: UK) VAT.
BTW.. this is also the case when you travel back to the U.S. or Canada. Also your countries have limits, usually in the same price range - sometimes a bit misleadingly described as limits for "souvenirs", i.e. EVERYTHING that you buy abroad (and is not covered by the better known list of limits for tobacco, spirits, perfume, etc.).

When in doubt, check with a customs officer at the "Red Channel" (exit after baggage claims which is marked in red color) when entering the EU.

He wasn't filming it was inside his carryon bag . As for declaring it it was only $ 300.00 and we are allowed to bring back $ 700 Canadian in goods back for a long term stay. It was a Sony so how would they know if he bought it there or not?

Maybe they just wanted to see what he'd been taping.

The "extreme" security level includes certain measures nobody has announced. I guess we'll just all have to go along with it.

Hopefully he'll get it back and it will just be another travel annoyance.

Josigirl77, your son isn't in Canada therefore Canadian rules don't apply.

At a guess he walked through the Green "Nothing to Declare" channel, got stopped, the camcorder was found and his answer was somewhat vague.

I am sorry if I misinterpreted some of your information.

But your son would only be off the hook if he had been in transit back to Canada.
From a customs point of view, he went from the UK to Dubai, and returned to stay (even if only for a week) in the UK - and thus had to pass customs.
So the limit for importing goods which is relevant is the one of the UK, not Canada, i.e. 145 GBP.

As he should still have the sales slip from Dubai, it may not be much of a problem to prove that it did not cost more than the equivalent of 145 GBP.

The customs officers have a pretty good eye for brand new electronic goods. The passenger will have to give some proof that he was already in the possesion of that item when he departed from the UK.

Didn't the officers tell your son what the next steps would be? Just telling him that they will send it to him by mail sounds a bit weird.

Josigirl: Even IF he was flying into Canada - he'd still have to declare it - it would be under the allowance so he wouldn't have to pay duty. But he would have to declare it.

&quot;<i>Didn't the officers tell your son what the next steps would be?</i>&quot; Apparently, yes -- &gt;&gt;He was told to fill out a form and they would mail it back to him. &lt;&lt;

Just to add that if it had been done for security reasons then it's likely a man with a gun will have been involved - and that your son would probably still be talking to them

&quot;Didn't the officers tell your son what the next steps would be?&quot; Apparently, yes -- &gt;&gt;He was told to fill out a form and they would mail it back to him. &lt;&lt;

Well, this is exactly what sounds so vague to me. &quot;Fill out a form .. and so on&quot;

If the items in question had been GBP 145 or less, and the son had been able to proof it, they would not have confiscated his camcorder.

If they had doubts and the son had not been able to present proof or purchase for the camcorder, they should have said something like &quot;We will have to enquire the value of your camcorder. If the value is 145 GBP or less, you will get it back. If not, you will have to pay UK VAT&quot;.

But from what Josigirl said, it seems as if Customs did not even give the boy a clue what was in question.

I think someone's not telling the whole story.

HM Customs WILL confiscate goods if they think they're being smuggled, and people on a student visa are no more allowed to bring goods worth over &pound;145 without paying duty than we are.

But if the goods are just worth $300, they really are very unlikely to bother. And, having had the odd difference of opinion with HM Customs in my time, I've never known them fail to spell out their position (including why they're trying to do what they're doing) very clearly indeed. If they confiscate, there's always a bit of paper explaining why

If he were my son, my first assumption would be either
- he'd bought, in total, a lot more than &pound;145 worth in Dubai, had tried to smuggle it and got caught, or
- there was pornography on the videotapes
and the boy was too embarrassed to reveal the truth in either case.

If the boy really is telling the whole truth (and I doubt it), then he should be aware of his rights, and he should most certainly get a better explanation that &quot;we're taking it&quot;. Available in the first instance at http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/factsheets/co...-factsheet.pdf

At the very least, he should get a better explanation than he claims he's been given. The fact that, at best, he seems to lack the gumption to get such an explanation is the main reason I think he's hiding something.

I agree that we don;t have the whole story here - for whatever reason. IT seems very unlikely that the camcorder would be seized unless it was obviously worth significantly more than the limit - or he had other things in his luggage.

They don't get rich charging duty on a few exra dollars. But the agents are experts on the unconscious behavior of people going through green lines when they shouldn;t - and when they stop them often find other things as well.

(I was at JFK behind a middle aged couple who said nothing to declare but were pulled aside. We had only a little and they waved us through. But their luggage was stuffed with clothing with labels still on it and as we left they had even found some jewelty. I don;t know how they know - but they're really good at it.)

&lt;&lt;&lt; It was a Sony so how would they know if he bought it there or not? &gt;&gt;&gt;

They look at the plate that gives model number &amp; the like.

I'm just wondering if son has bought a PAL rather than NTSC camcorder which would be odd for someone heading to North America