My friend Alan shipped my remaining goods without notifying me, and I got a call from UPS today asking me to fill out a form called 'bringing your personal belongings to the United Kingdom from outside the European Community.' I asked him to fill out the required forms but he did not. I have been here since November and he has just shipped the goods (which I sent him money to do), and I no longer recall exactly what was in the bags that was shipped, but I do know it was just clothes.
I have several questions about the form:
a) How detailed must the packing list be? I don't have an inventory here of everything I brought, but it is just used clothing. I am 90% sure that there is nothing else in there.
b) The first page of the form asks for ship's name or flight number, bill of lading or airway bill number, place of loading abroad (the point where they were shipped from? Cleveland?) container number (?) place and date of import (is that my home address? what date do I use? Today because the I got the call from UPS today?) place for examination. Would Alan have this information? If not what do I fill in?
c) How picky are they? If I don't have the exact number of jumpers, trousers and socks in there what will happen? 'they' meaning UPS and 'they' meaning customs
d) Can I simply refuse or abandon the packages instead of paying VAT on them if that's what they want, or if they give me a huge rigamarole? I've gotten along just fine without the stuff that is in them thus far, and I wish Alan had thrown them away instead of sending them without telling me or asking me a thing.
Thanks for your help.
