A majority of lorry drivers arriving on ferries from Britain at Dublin Port in the hours after Brexit came into effect did not know whether they had to go through customs or not, according to State officials.
According to The Irish Times, the Department of Transport contacted haulage groups on Friday morning to say most lorry drivers arriving on the first post-Brexit ferries had not checked with the online customs system to see whether they should be “green-routed” out of the port or “red-routed” to checks and inspections.
As a result of this, the department said that lorry drivers did not know where to go. Haulage groups were urged by the department to remind drivers urgently that before exiting the port they had to check their “customs channel” and that if they exited the port without having their goods from Britain cleared for customs, it would be an offence, and that fines and prosecutions may arise.
The Revenue Commissioners have said they do not plan to impose sanctions “on day one”. Its preference is to work with businesses where “genuine error” occurs, but action could be taken.
“Where we need to, Revenue will not be found wanting to apply those sanctions,” said Tom Talbot, the head of customs operations for the Revenue Commissioners at Dublin Port on Friday.
For more on these Delays which led the Irish Road Haulage Association to call on the Revenue Commissioners to create an emergency “pre-boarding notification” (PBN) identification number, click here.