HGV driver jailed for beer duty evasion

A HAULIER involved in a £28,000 customs duty scam has been jailed.
Brett DriverBrett Driver
Brett Driver

Brett Driver (52), of Dalton, was caught unloading 25,762 litres of beer, worth £28,156 in unpaid duty, from a HGV inside a Sheffield warehouse in 2013.

More than four years on, he was jailed for 20 months at Sheffield Crown Court on Monday.

The court heard Driver admitted having taken five similar deliveries over the eight weeks before he was caught, earning £400 in cash each time.

He said he had known the beer “wasn’t right”, but said he was merely providing a temporary storage facility at the Eccesfield unit for an unknown third party.

Driver was found guilty last month of excise duty evasion under the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979.

The court heard the beer had been found using shipping serial numbers on packaging as having originated from wholesalers across northern France.