Bringing back "extra" wine....VAT, other implications?

Hi,

Not sure if this is the right place to post this question, but here goes -- husband and I are headed back to US for a couple of weeks. We've ordered some wine and know that we will be over our limit. We're planning on going through the red channel and declaring the excess and paying the required VAT (it's still way cheaper to do that then to try and get some of these wines from the UK). Has anyone done this before? Any ideas on how long it will take? Every time I've declared something when going back to the US, they've never bothered to charge me - while we're certainly expecting to pay, having never done it, I have no idea how much extra time to allot. Also, if others have done this, did they then search the rest of your luggage, or just leave it be? Help, advice, tips, info, anything is much appreciated.

Thanks!

In case this helps anyone else, here's how it went....Husb and I arrived at Manchester airport yesterday morning. After collecting all of our stuff, we went over to the red desk. No one was there, so we picked up the red phone. When someone finally answered, they asked us what we needed to declare. We told them we had 30 bottles of wine, they asked how many people (there were the two of us) and our ages and then told us to go through the green channel. Super easy! Not sure if it was because of the time (it was crazy early - just after 6:00 AM), but complete piece of cake.

In case you don't get lucky - read this:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/customs/arriving/arrivingnoneu.htm#4

Other things being equal, I don't think they want to bother figuring out the duty. More math than the average person wants to do at an early hour of the morning.

In case you don't get lucky - read this:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/customs/arriving/arrivingnoneu.htm#4

Other things being equal, I don't think they want to bother figuring out the duty. More math than the average person wants to do at an early hour of the morning.

Yep, had already read that. My question was really more about whether they would be more likely to go through my stuff, looking for other items to charge VAT on....Happily, it appears that, much like in the US, it's far too much math for them to concern themselves with