Booze cruise

In British slang, a booze cruise is a brief trip from Britain to France or Belgium with the intent of taking advantage of lower prices, and buying personal supplies of (especially) alcohol or tobacco in bulk quantities.

The French have opened an enormous shopping precinct adjacent to the Channel Tunnel (Cité Europe) that attracts large numbers of British shoppers.

Genuine booze cruisers are often people 'on a budget', who simply opt to purchase their own personal supplies from 'Shop A' (in France or Belgium) at lower prices than offered at 'Shop B' (in Britain).

Booze cruisers normally travel as a family or group of friends, and often take the opportunity to generally have a 'day out' in France and indulge in recreational 'channel shopping' for French produce and unfamiliar foods, clothing and other goods while they are there.

On the downside, UK taxes (especially on tobacco) seem to have risen beyond the point of diminishing returns, so the British Exchequer loses substantial revenue that might otherwise have been collected to the economies of France and Belgium.

[citation needed] Shops (particularly in the English South-East) also report that their trade suffers because taxes make their prices uncompetitive with both legal and illegal imports.

In answer to a legal challenge; a European Court of Justice ruling on 23 November 2006 overturned their own Advocate-General's advice and reconfirmed that: "only products acquired and transported personally by private individuals are exempt from excise duty in the member state of importation".

[citation needed] This ruling effectively thwarted the hoped-for option of ordering goods (particularly tobacco), via Internet, from low duty states in the European Union and having them posted to a United Kingdom address, causing discussion in the British media about how a supposed 'Free Trade Area' seems to work for the benefit of some but not others.

[citation needed] Although fully aware of this, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), faced with widespread abuse by smugglers, impose guidelines - limits based on what they are prepared to believe are reasonable amounts for personal consumption (nominally six months' supply).

[citation needed] Most travellers are unaffected, but there are instances of infrequent trippers forward-buying large supplies of (for example) their favourite brand of cigarette, and falling foul of the 'limits' intended to deal with professional smugglers.

However, there have been reported cases of more extreme treatment (especially where people have unnecessarily concealed extra goods in vehicle cavities, spare wheel wells etc.