Dealing with post-Brexit paperwork ‘pure hell’, shipping head tells MPs | Brexit
British vets are being forced to chase Dover-bound lorries on the motorway because of the “pure hell” of Brexit paperwork needed by inspectors in Calais, MPs have been told.
Broughton Transport’s Toby Ovens told the business and trade committee that Brexit was a costly and logistical nightmare and hopes of a reset with the EU represented “light at the end of the tunnel”.
Ovens, who splurged on a 26-stamp ream of paperwork compared to the one page needed before Brexit, criticized the bureaucracy he faced in shipping lamb and beef to the continent post-Brexit.
“I’ve seen vets chasing lorries on the M4 because they suddenly realized they hadn’t put the stamp in the right place on a piece of paper.”
His worst experience was having a truck full of frozen meat detained in Calais for 27 days due to a “paperwork error”. He had to charge his client £16,000 for drivers to sit in a refrigerated truck in Calais for a month.
He said the trucks were detained in Calais before Christmas because inspectors did not accept the new UK paperwork for the BSE permit.
They eventually rerouted a lorry at Chippenham to meet a vet who issued a set of new BSE certificates to be taken to Calais for lorries detained at the port.
First-hand accounts confirm pre-Brexit warnings from exporters, hauliers and small businesses unable to afford the paperwork.
His remarks came as Brussels negotiators prepare for their first meeting in London next week on a new veterinary agreement with the EU aimed at cutting through Brexit red tape.
Committee chairman Liam Byrne opened the evidence hearing by telling witnesses that red tape was costing the UK an additional £8.4bn.
“Trade in goods is down 18 percent compared to five years ago, and food and beverage is down 24 percent,” he said.
Talks to cut red tape on exports of goods and drinks will begin in London next week, with a second meeting planned for the following week in Brussels as both sides work on a sanitary and phytosanitary agreement.
Tom Bradshaw, president of the National Farmers Union, highlighted the technical difficulties of reaching agreement in an environment where approaches to farming are already diverse.
He said: “Oat farmers are currently allowed to use four mycotoxins that are permitted in the UK but not yet in the EU. Does this require a transition agreement?”
Sean McGuire, European director of the Confederation of British Industry, said the EU had been “very, very moderate” on other issues, such as mutual recognition of professional qualifications such as architecture.
