Charity wine dash stopped

The Beaujolais Nouveau goes on sale on the third Thursday of November

Fundraisers who were planning to cross the Channel to buy red wine for a charity auction have had their idea dashed by Customs.

Members of the Gateshead Rotary Club had planned to race from France to the north-east of England to bring back some of the first bottles of this year's Beaujolais Nouveau.

The club's president Peter Maughan contacted Customs and Excise officials to check they would not be prosecuted under import regulations.

But Customs would not relax the rules and so the scheme could not go ahead.

Mr Maughan called on officials to "have a heart".

He said: "I have never met a stone wall like we met when we phoned them. They just were not moving.

"They said, 'Do not bother us, just do not do it. Those are the rules, you are subject to them'."

The money they would have raised from the auction was to have gone towards a fund for a new cancer unit at Gateshead's Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

Enforce laws

The plan had been for around six of the group to bring back three or four dozen bottles from Macon in eastern France after they went on sale at one minute past midnight on the third Thursday of November.

The aim was to bring the bottles back to the North East by the evening where they would be auctioned to wine merchants and restaurants.

But import rules mean that where alcohol is not for personal consumption large duties have to be paid.

Solicitor Mr Maughan, 49, said he feared prosecution and having their cars confiscated if they were caught out and that is why he called to check with Customs.

A spokesman for Customs and Excise said: "Customs do not make the law but it is their duty to uphold the law as laid down by the government of the day.

"We appreciate what they are trying to do but cannot under the circumstances enable the wine to be imported free of duty.

"We understand and acknowledge the good intentions of the Rotarians but it is the responsibility of Customs and Excise to enforce the laws that are laid down by the government."