ParcelHero savages Government no deal Brexit advice

Today’s Government Technical Notices on a hard Brexit are as reassuring as the 1980 Protect and Survive booklet, which outlined how to survive a nuclear attack by sheltering under a table, says ParcelHero.

“If the Government thought its first batch of 25 documents advising businesses and individuals how to plan for the event of us leaving the EU without a deal would reassure people, they are mistaken,” comments ParcelHero’s Head of Consumer Research, David Jinks.

The advice that people and businesses shipping items to the EU should ‘Engage the services of a customs broker, freight forwarder or logistics provider to help, or alternatively secure the appropriate software and authorisations.’ is reminiscent of Government advice to 'use tables if they are large enough to provide you all with shelter’ from the aforementioned government booklet, he claims.

The European Commission recently warned increased border controls will mean transport between the UK and EU is "severely impacted", with the possibility of "significant delays". The Technical Notice’s assertion that the Government will have stockpiled six weeks’ worth of medical supplies to cope with border disruption simply creates more worries than it calms, says Jinks.

“If that’s the level of delays anticipated for urgent medicines, what will the situation be like for normal goods? If individuals and SMEs are simply planning to send a parcel to the EU, or expecting a parcel collection from the continent, we can get a picture of the real delays anticipated.”

The Brexit Secretary, Dominic Raab, introduced the new Technical Notices by saying: “There are risks here, but let’s not have the risks blown out of proportion.” But Jinks rubbishes the advice that businesses should “if necessary, put steps in place to renegotiate commercial terms to reflect any changes in customs and excise procedures, and any tariffs that may apply to UK-EU trade".

“Anyone planning to use a parcel courier to ship to the EU in the future must trust that the threat of a hard Brexit never actually comes true, because British exporters know ducking under a table won’t help them survive the extra duties, red tape and delays on their exports to the EU,” he concludes.