Hyperactive drinkers hail the single market

THOUSANDS of Britons swept through French hypermarkets yesterday and returned home laden with tons of beer, spirits and cigarettes.

Some were blatantly flouting new guidelines on the amount of alcohol and tobacco that can be brought back to Britain following the introduction of the single European market on Friday.

Shopping trolleys were filled with beer at one-third of the price in Britain, wine for 81p a litre and cigarettes at 80p to 90p less than a packet of 20 would cost at home. Taxes on cigarettes and alcohol are much lower in France.

Shops hired extra staff to cope with the British invasion. Among the first customers at Mammouth, the biggest hypermarket in Calais, was a group of five men from Humberside who, by 9.30am, were stacking the first part of a pounds 2,000 consignment of lager into a two-ton van they had driven over the previous day.

They were buying trolley-load after trolley-load of Kurstenbrau lager at pounds 3.12 for a pack of 24 small bottles. A similar amount would cost more than pounds 10 in Britain. The men made no secret of the fact that they planned to re-sell some of the beer for about pounds 6.50 a pack at home.

Stewart Stephenson, 46, said with a smile: 'It's all taken care of by pre-arrangement. If it all goes to plan we will be back in a couple of days with a three-ton van for another load.'

Such trips break the rules which state that anything brought back to Britain must be for personal use only.

British Customs and Excise has laid down guidelines, which it admits are not legally enforceable, stipulating the amount which can be brought back for personal use without questions being asked on arrival in Britain.

These allow 110 litres of beer, 90 litres of wine, 20 litres of port and sherry, 10 litres of spirits, 800 cigarettes, 200 cigars and one kilogramme of tobacco. It remains to be seen how stringent Customs checks will be.

But most people yesterday were nowhere near breaching the guidelines, even though they were buying as though prohibition was about to be introduced.

A family of nine from Derby got the first ferry over from Dover yesterday and were soon stacking about pounds 250 worth of wine, lager and tobacco into their minibus, mostly for two birthday parties.

David Martin, who had driven his wife, children, son-in-law and grandchildren across, said: 'It cost us pounds 64 to come over and we have saved so much that I reckon we are well ahead on the deal.'

John Adamson, from Fulham, London, said: 'I have spent over pounds 200 on wine, but it will keep me going for a long time.'

Serge Locheux, director of Mammouth, Calais, said: 'We have 150 to 160 staff on today, which is about 25 more than normal. We have stocked up with an extra 20 truckloads of beer and have 15 bus trips laid on from the port. Until now, about 10 per cent of our turnover was from British customers, but we think it will rise to more than 30 per cent from today.'

Yesterday, duty-free shops on the ferries were still doing brisk business, principally in perfume and spirits. P&O has slashed the price of spirits by pounds 3-pounds 4 a bottle to compete with hypermarkets. A bottle of Bells whisky, which costs pounds 10.93 in Mammouth, sells for pounds 9.95 on the ferries.

The RAC warned motorists not to overload their cars with duty-free drink. The full wine allowance for two people weighed 750lbs, which was too much for the average family car.

(Photograph omitted)