Customs at Langley HWDC

JohnDoeSan · Post by **JohnDoeSan** » 02 Aug 2018, 16:47

TrueBlueTerrier wrote:The simple answer is its a Government Department and as with most of them these days they are undermanned, under pressure, under funded and they have to follow the processes laid down by the government with no deviation. All of that makes it inefficent for people waiting to receive items, but it does raise revenue for the exchequer.

As to the other whys, as HMRC isn't part of Royal Mail I can't answer for them, I can only state my opinion as I have above.

Royal Mail (as in HWDC) are caught between a Rock (HMRC) and a hard place (customers) they do their best but have to answer to both masters.

Well that is very sad to read. I thank you for the time you took to explain this to me. Now I see the picture as a whole. I now know what I need to do. Just avoid being dragged down this bottomless unorganized pit of bureaucracy, blame-throwing and crass disorganization again. Thanks again TrueBlueTerrier for your help/insight.
Edit: I can guarantee anyone that if I'd be working within the Customs Department and be in charge of clearing the international mail/parcels, I'd be clearing/sorting through at least 1000 individual items daily! With emphasis on "at least".

swindonandy · Post by **swindonandy** » 02 Aug 2018, 18:53

JohnDoeSan wrote: Edit: I can guarantee anyone that if I'd be working within the Customs Department and be in charge of clearing the international mail/parcels, I'd be clearing/sorting through at least 1000 individual items daily! With emphasis on "at least".

Unfortunately, you'd probably be operating well below the expected performance levels and very soon out of a job. To quote from the 2015/6 Post Sector Report https://www.parliament.uk/documents/com ... Report.pdf

Around 360 million parcels were exported to, or imported from, the UK in 2015-16

360,000,000 parcels

That's a million items a day, assuming they work Sundays and most Bank Holidays.

JohnDoeSan · Post by **JohnDoeSan** » 02 Aug 2018, 19:35

swindonandy wrote:
JohnDoeSan wrote: Edit: I can guarantee anyone that if I'd be working within the Customs Department and be in charge of clearing the international mail/parcels, I'd be clearing/sorting through at least 1000 individual items daily! With emphasis on "at least".
Unfortunately, you'd probably be operating well below the expected performance levels and very soon out of a job. To quote from the 2015/6 Post Sector Report https://www.parliament.uk/documents/com ... Report.pdf
Around 360 million parcels were exported to, or imported from, the UK in 2015-16
360,000,000 parcels

That's a million items a day, assuming they work Sundays and most Bank Holidays.

Clearly that was a rough estimate, and it's not like the Customs have only a handful of persons in charge of sorting and clearing the international mail no matter how understaffed they supposedly might be...

Post by **Snaggletooth** » 03 Aug 2018, 14:12

I would imagine that the main workload issue isn’t the number of items, it’s how complicated the rules are (as defined by Government), exacerbated by the poor quality of customs declarations, multiplied by the volume of mail and the percentage of mail that has to be checked.

As an example, certain types of batteries were banned from the mail 5-6 years ago. It is not always easy to tell them apart. So one imagines that many items containing batteries have to be referred to someone in a second line to make a decision. This adds cost, complication and, above all, time.

HMRC don’t make these rules, their role is to enforce them.

olegasc · Post by **olegasc** » 06 Aug 2018, 16:56

Snaggletooth wrote:It probably isn’t lost, just gone for extra checks. A week spent there isn’t unusual at all.

Hi,
Does anybody know how long this unexpected extra checks may take? My parcel (RA638790888RU) got stuck in customs for 2 weeks already.
Thanks,
Ollie

Post by **TrueBlueTerrier** » 06 Aug 2018, 18:38

olegasc wrote:
Snaggletooth wrote:It probably isn’t lost, just gone for extra checks. A week spent there isn’t unusual at all.
Hi,
Does anybody know how long this unexpected extra checks may take? My parcel (RA638790888RU) got stuck in customs for 2 weeks already.
Thanks,
Ollie

It all depends on what the item is, but with Russia, there are various sanctions in place, and perhaps coming into place. It usually won't affect normal citizens however, it does mean they will make more checks.

peterpan89 · Post by **peterpan89** » 24 Aug 2018, 10:35

One question: When the Royal Mail tracking says 'We've got it', does this mean it has cleared customs? Thanks

Post by **TrueBlueTerrier** » 24 Aug 2018, 14:01

peterpan89 wrote:One question: When the Royal Mail tracking says 'We've got it', does this mean it has cleared customs? Thanks

usually yes

Barrosa · Post by **Barrosa** » 24 Aug 2018, 19:08

Hi I bought a dress from Portugal and the tracking says it arrived at Langley on the 09th August.Do you think I should loose any hope in getting the package?:(
Thanks

Post by **TrueBlueTerrier** » 25 Aug 2018, 13:07

Barrosa wrote:Hi I bought a dress from Portugal and the tracking says it arrived at Langley on the 09th August.Do you think I should loose any hope in getting the package?:(
Thanks

No there is still a chance. Sometimes customs can take 3 - 4 weeks to get their acts together.

nniikkii · Post by **nniikkii** » 27 Aug 2018, 10:30

Is it possible to somehow contact customs? My package has been there for 2 weeks now and I don't know what to do.

Post by **TrueBlueTerrier** » 27 Aug 2018, 10:43

nniikkii wrote:Is it possible to somehow contact customs? My package has been there for 2 weeks now and I don't know what to do.

They are a government department and there is no direct customer facing number to speak directly to Customs at Langley.

However, some have claimed to be able to find a number on the internet, but its never been posted on here that I am aware.

Good hunting.

maxamos · Post by **maxamos** » 27 Aug 2018, 11:46

You've probably answered this a thousand times but I'm afraid I couldn't find the answer via the search.

Is there any obvious way to tell whether customs or RM has the package, my tracking on RM says 'We've got it' and that it has been received at Langley. I just want to prepare myself if it's at customs and I've got to expext a long wait before I receive it.

Thank you.

Max

Post by **TrueBlueTerrier** » 27 Aug 2018, 11:53

maxamos wrote:You've probably answered this a thousand times but I'm afraid I couldn't find the answer via the search.

Is there any obvious way to tell whether customs or RM has the package, my tracking on RM says 'We've got it' and that it has been received at Langley. I just want to prepare myself if it's at customs and I've got to expext a long wait before I receive it.

Thank you.

Max

No there is no obvious way to tell exactly who has it, other than as soon as RM start transporting it through their system every scan will show up on their track and trace system.

maxamos · Post by **maxamos** » 27 Aug 2018, 13:00

Thought as much, I'll just have to try be patient for once in my life.

Thank you for the quick reply.