No more 'Booze Cruises'

The great tradition of filling up the motorhome with French wine & tobacco before you return to the UK is going to be a bit different as from the 1st January, 2021. Anyone wishing to bring back alcohol or tobacco into the UK for their own personal use, now has to abide by the new H.M. Customs & Excise rules. The quantities of alcohol & tobacco that you are allowed to bring back into the UK will now be limited before duty will have to be paid. The new ‘duty-free’ limits are as follows:

Alcohol

• 42 litres of beer

• 18 litres of still wine

• 4 litres of spirits OR 9 litres of sparkling wine, fortified wine or any alcoholic beverage less than 22% ABV

Tobacco

• 200 cigarettes OR

• 100 cigarillos OR

• 50 cigars OR

• 250g tobacco OR or any proportional combination of the above

This means that you will be able to bring three crates of beer, two cases of still wine and one case of sparkling wine to GB without paying UK duties.

Other items

Any other goods that you buy abroad such as clothing, gifts, etc will have a monetary limit of £390, any supporting invoices should be retained as proof of value.

One advantage however is that if you wish to take some British beer (or wine) with you into France, these can be purchased duty-free at the port or on the ferry when leaving the UK.