The gift that is Brexit just keeps on giving – not!
Brexit: the gift that keeps on giving. Here are some of the latest examples of how Britons lose out as citizens of what is now a ‘third country’ as regards the EU.
They include: Eurostar has decided to stop direct services from London to Disneyland Paris from next summer, citing the fallout from Brexit and Covid.
They are quoted as saying: ‘Our border environment has also toughened post Brexit, and further complexity is expected with the launch of the EU’s Entry Exit System’.
As well as Disneyland, Eurostar is unlikely to reopen its stations in Kent where they would now have to organise customs checks, which makes the procedure more expensive.
So now it is not clear if the stations at Ashford International and Ebbsfleet will ever reopen.
A Wandsworth resident found that the NHS app with UK-approved Covid pass meant nothing in Poland for the Border Guard.
It wasn’t recognised, only the EU-wide one.
That meant he was not allowed to board his plane home to London.
He had to rebook for a week later, thereby losing one week’s earnings and around £150 for another booking.
Another Wandsworth resident has dual nationality and a cottage in Sweden as well as a small flat in London.
The Swedish countryside was the perfect place for self-isolating during the pandemic, but in autumn 2021 they were planning to go back to London for the winter.
They had already taken all their winter clothes – coats, boots, woolly hats and gloves – with them when they travelled to London for a long weekend in September.
Omicron struck in early December 2021, and they decided to stay in Sweden, despite missing yet another festive season with family and friends.
However, they needed their winter gear and asked one of their children to pack it all and send it over.
The shipment got stuck in Customs, because they couldn’t show receipts that VAT had already been paid on their old clothes.
Some of those items are 15-20 years old – from an era when we had free movement and didn’t need to worry about keeping receipts for decades.
Since they couldn’t prove VAT payment, they had to pay 25 per cent of the value of their second-hand clothes plus a Customs administration fee to release the shipment, some of which had been bought in Sweden a long time ago.
On Saturday September 10th there is a National March to Rejoin being held in London:
https://marchforrejoin.co.uk/
If you believe Brexit was a national mistake, do join the marchers.
Barbara Callender
Chairwoman European Movement Wandsworth & Merton
Picture: Pixabay/stux
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