French authorities rejected Northumberland, England-based Coquet Island Shellfish Company’s consignment because a form that had been signed 43 times by a U.K. official lacked a printed name.
Coquet Island Shellfish Company Managing Director Tom Newton told the BBC French border workers denied the shipment because the U.K. officer who signed the documents did not print their name in two mandatory spots on the 14-page document.
The company then had to spend thousands of additional pounds to have the consignment returned.
"We then had two options – destroy the product or bring it back," Newton said. "We managed to salvage it as we have a frozen arm to the business, but it meant we had to pay the transport company and bring in a team of 75 people the next day to reprocess and repack it."
The U.K. Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said traders and certifying officers should ensure paperwork is "correctly and fully completed to minimize the chance of rejection at the E.U. border." It continues to "engage with the European Union to help resolve any issues that UK exporters may be experiencing, with work to develop a digitization process ongoing," it said.
Coquet Island Shellfish Sales Director Jane Pedersen criticized the increased beaucratic measures that have been put in place following the U.K.'s exit from the European Union.
"As a company and as an industry, there have been no discernible benefits of Brexit. Everything takes longer and costs more. This incident was quite ridiculous ... That morning when we were faced with the destruction of EUR 50,000 [USD 51,104] of goods or the additional costs was very fraught and frantic for us."
Going forward, Pedersen said her business “can’t continue like this.”
Officials in Scotland, and the Scottish seafood industry, have criticized the U.K. government for border disruptions. Seafood Scotland Chief Executive Donna Fordyce has been critical of the U.K. government's actions as well.
Photo courtesy of Apinan taisarsri/Shutterstock
