UK Border Force damaged several sacks of bran during a routine inspection. Although the sacks then had to be destroyed, UK Border Force refused to pay the company compensation for the loss of their goods.
What happened
The company supplies cereals to manufacturers in the UK and Europe. A number of sacks were being returned from Poland because of a problem in the outer packaging. The lorry from Poland was stopped at Dover and UK Border Force officials carried out a search. They used sticks to probe the contents of the sacks which the company said damaged the packing to the extent that the contents could no longer be used and would have to be destroyed.
It asked UK Border Force to compensate them for the financial loss but the UK Border Force said that the sacks were rejects and therefore it was not liable for the cost of the damage. The company said that the goods would have been re-packaged and redelivered, and were not therefore rejected and of no value.
What we found
UK Border Force, by using sticks to examine the sacks, did damage the contents so that they were not saleable by the company. We did not find the use of the sticks inappropriate but UK Border Force should have spoken with the company about the contents to check whether the goods were still saleable. It should have compensated the company for the damage it did to the goods.
Putting it right
We recommended that UK Border Force pay the company a sum of over £12,000 including interest, to compensate for the financial loss of the sacks of damaged bran, and also apologise to the company.
UK Border Force
UK
Did not apologise properly or do enough to put things right
Not applicable