Under which circumstances would an item be held in uk customs?

Question

The item is from the united states to the uk in the form of car performance parts.

Answer 1

Any animal, meat, fruit consumable etc to prevent disease from entering our food chain. Anything you haven't paid duty on if you have too much, ie cigarettes and booze. Oh and obviously they wouldn't let drugs in if they found them.
I can't imagine they'd refuse to let a car part in, but you may have to pay an import tax on it unless it's a gift.

Answer 2

Have you made any attempt to enter the goods to customs? If shipped by an express parcel service they'd normally contact you and ask for your instructions. If a freight agent then they'd do the same but be a bit more exact.
Have you paid freight charges on this? It may not be Customs at all - they frequently get blamed by agents, couriers etc. for their own shortcomngs.
Assuming everything is above board then Customs are only holding it for a) correct entry and b) payment of duty & tax. Usually the carrier funds this and bills you (and charges around 2-3% for the privilege).
They could be doing a physical exam (car parts are notorious for smuggling) but that would add maybe 48 hours at most.
Sorry, need a bit more detail on how this shipped to help further.

Answer 3

if an item is deemed ileagal or could be used for illicet purposes i.e electronic trigger switches then customs would hold them for further investigation also if the part was wrongly listed in the decleration they would want to check before allowing it passage into the u.k and finnally if customs duty and vat are due on the item in this case they would normally notify you by letter of the amount paid or if its via royal mail they woul hold it in thes sorting office until all duties are paid check with your supplier and the carrier they can normally help resolve these issues

Answer 4

Anything can be held by UK Customs for which duty and/or tax is due and which has not been paid. Sorry, but they have us over a barrel.

Answer 5

I can see no reason for car parts to be held unless you have not paid the tax on them.

Answer 6

You've probably not paid the correct Customs Duty on that. You can do so at your nearest HMRC office or the Post Office.

Answer 7

If the customs officer thought he could flog it at a boot sale, or in this case fit it on his own car.