Philip Van Geest of Van Geest International sent us the column below:
“With the UK’s exit from the European Union last year, many changes were in the pipeline. We will not leave a paranoid institution full of narcissistic unelected leaders and pocket-filled European politicians. One can only show understanding. UK officials suggest that many EU officials will lick his or her fingers.
Philip Van Geest, Van Geest International
From 1 January 2022, UK officials have reintroduced everything from IT systems that cannot communicate with each other and for which templates are not developed, to a paper shop where you can discuss the benefit of this. Due to IT failures (sounds familiar) and the lack of cross-matching systems, almost everything has to be manually entered by exporters to the UK, freight forwarders and customs agents there.
Furthermore, there is also a shortage of 5,000 customs officers in the UK. You’d say, “Wait, let’s fix things up in good old Britain first.” But rather than grapple with the issue of Brexit/customs and act practically, the bastards in Boris’ uniform prefer to throw sand at the wheels of an already faltering regime. They just don’t care at all.
Customs officers work at 11pm, their alternate colleagues don’t show up until 9am the next day, it seems perfectly normal. Consequences: cars that sometimes have to wait for days unnecessarily, or simply for no reason (“the computer says no”), fresh fruits and vegetables delivered too late to customers and already empty shelves in supermarkets.
Furthermore, everything is becoming more and more expensive for the British consumer, because each (useless?) batch of export papers costs only €22.50 to €75.00 and this can cost as little as €125.00 cumulatively per order. Contacting the UK authorities often only raises more questions, because they don’t know! As is often the case: in the Netherlands we have things in order, but in the UK? No sir! It almost makes you desperate, but we keep thinking about the possibilities!
But … the main question in this regard: what is GroentenFruit Huis doing about this? It is good that we allow exporters to pay a (very large) contribution, but then an active and leading role in this can be expected.”
for more information:
Philip van Geest
Van Geest International
41 Jogchem van der Houtweg
2678 Ha De Lier
+31 (0) 174514300
[email protected]
www.vgibv.nl
