Shipping boss tells MPs Brexit paperwork forced vets to chase lorries

Toby Ovens of Broughton Transport told the business and trade committee that British vets had been forced to chase lorries down motorways on their way to Dover because of the "pure hell" of Brexit paperwork required by inspectors in Calais. Ovens brandished a wad of paperwork with 26 stamps compared with one sheet needed before Brexit and criticised the post‑Brexit bureaucracy he faced when shipping lamb and beef to the continent.

He said: "I’ve had vets chasing lorries down the M4 because they have suddenly realised they didn’t put the stamp in the right place on a piece of paper." His worst experience, he told MPs, was a truck full of frozen meat held in Calais for 27 days due to a "paperwork error", and he had to charge his customer £16,000 for drivers to sit with the refrigerated truck while it was detained.

Ovens said trucks were being detained at Calais before Christmas because inspectors would not accept new UK paperwork for BSE clearance; in one case a lorry was rerouted in Chippenham so a vet could hand over a bundle of new BSE certificates to take to Calais. The accounts, the committee heard, echo pre‑Brexit warnings from exporters, hauliers and small businesses about the cost and complexity of the new paperwork.

Chair Liam Byrne opened the session saying red tape was costing the UK an extra £8.4bn and that "goods trade is down 18% on five years ago, food and drink down 24%".

Key Topics

Politics, Toby Ovens, Broughton Transport, Calais, Bse Certificates, National Farmers' Union