On 24/1/07 13:05, in article
, "Mike Lyle"
wrote:



On Jan 24, 10:20?am, Martin wrote:
On Tue, 23 Jan 2007 23:24:36 -0000, "MikeLyle"
[...]
Even wheeling it down a public road
with no tax wouldn't actually be arrestable;

No VAT has been paid on the vehicles, that is an offence.

Arrestable? Doesn't there have to be a court order? I'd have thought it
would have had to go through normal VAT recovery procedures before it
became a police matter. We are seeing that it just isn't unlawful to
possess ordinary stuff you've salvaged: that's what the 28 days thing is
about.It is illegal to be in possession of goods on which VAT/taxes haven't
been paid.

Try entering UK with an untaxed unregistered m/bike.

Did you ever see HM C&E VAT inspectors operating at an agricultural show?

Oh, su but that's planned months in advance, with controlled exits
and entrances closed at night, hotels booked, proper car parking,
toilet facilities, all that. But I wonder how practicable it would be
to get a task force of C&E officers down to a beach at short notice to
go through the procedures 24 hours a day. In winter. We haven't even
got enough to secure all our ports under normal conditions.



and I'm sure the bikes were
all safely on other vehicles. I really don't envy the police in
situations like this: it doesn't make them look particularly good
from one point of view, but they'd look worse if they started getting
officious.

If they had acted quick and closed the beach, it would have looked
better to any honest person.

Well, I don't think that's the kind of thing they can do in Britain
without a lot of deliberation. They've done it now, I believe; but it's
a big step to stop you walking your dog on the beach just because
somebody else may perhaps have committed a crime on that beach. Our
politicians may like the idea, but it isn't British. Yet.

It seems to be, they were just slow in reacting.

As I said to Sacha, I'm on the side of the coppers in this freak
situation.

I don't blame the police themselves in this situation. The D&C Constabulary
is grossly over-stretched. But I do blame whoever deploys them and whoever
didn't have the sheer native common sense to fence off the access from the
get-go. A local farmer has had a chain saw stolen and tractor parts have
gone as well. Sheds and beach huts have had their doors stoved in and a
boat has been stolen, too. This is looting and theft, pure and simple, IME
and it's not edifying to think that this is yet another nail in the coffin
of honesty and good behaviour in general.

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/
(remove weeds from address)