Offshore off-licence may flounder

The Cornish Maiden is moored 12 miles off Hartlepool

The future of the UK's first offshore off-licence is in doubt after action by customs officials.

Phil Berriman from Stockton and Trevor Lyons from Newcastle-under-Lyme were hoping to sell cut-price alcohol and cigarettes 12 miles off Hartlepool.

Their boat, the Cornish Maiden, sailed on Sunday after Customs returned goods worth £100,000 detained in July.

But a Customs cutter, positioned a few hundred yards away from the boat, appears to have scared off customers.

The pair are using the Cornish Maiden vessel in the hope of selling goods bought in France and Germany.

They say that duty has already been paid on the goods.

Customers can buy a carton of 200 cigarettes for £15 - around one third the price in a mainland shop.

Customs officials have warned potential customers they face having any purchased goods and vessels seized unless they make a declaration when they return to the mainland.

Customs returned stock seized from the Rich Harvest

The BBC's Danny Savage, who is in Hartlepool, said crisis talks were being held on the vessel, which could mean the Cornish Maiden returning to port.

He said: Obviously, with that customs boat sitting there watching them, nobody is going to go out and buy things.

"So they have to make a decision as to whether they are going to wait and hope the customs boat goes away and people will eventually come out and buy things.

"Or do they have to cut their losses and go back to where they bought these goods and try and sell them back again and go back to the courts to settle this."

Legal situation

When the Cornish Maiden launched, Mr Berriman said: "The basic rule in the European Union is that you cannot pay duty or VAT twice for anything.

"We have already paid 11.4 euros duty for every packet of cigarettes on that boat."

Customs confiscated more than £100,000 worth of stock from the off-licence owners' previous vessel Rich Harvest when it had to return to Hartlepool Marina to shelter from a storm.

Mr Berriman said every customer was being given an information sheet to clarify the legal situation.

A HM Customs spokesman told BBC News Online: "We have made it clear to Mr Berriman and the general public that anyone who buys goods in international waters, but who does not actually travel to another country has to pay excise duty.

"Anyone who fails to do this, or assists anyone to escape paying duty, is committing an offence."