Jailed for duty dodge
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• Stranraer lorry driver Robert Trew has been jailed for nine months for evading duty on alcohol and tobacco.
Trew was stopped by Dover customs officers twice in 1994. In April, a search revealed two
pallet loads of vodka behind a consignment of goods on the front of the trailer, and in the cab were two boxes of wine, two boxes of spirits, cigarettes and tobacco.
Trew claimed the vodka was for three family parties.
In September he was stopped carrying a further 30.5kg of tobacco and 200 cigarettes. Total duty evaded was just over £10,000.
Nigel van der Bijl, for Trew, said that he had accrued considerable debts because his lorry had been impounded on his arrest and he had been unable to work. "This has been a salutary lesson and he does not want to do international lorry driving anymore," said van der Bijl.