having been involved in a couty court case involving the customs and some of our friends evading every law possible i got to see the inside of the good and bad practices of the customs
they dont deal with the nicest of people some of the time,
at the end of the day they are doing a job under other outside pressures like that when the bootlegging was at its strongest and hoverspeed advoided customs and delivered to the house.
my biggest issue with customs was the way i was dealt with as a witness
going to county court is in itself daunting, and the thought of having to take the stand.
but exactly one year after the event a customs official came to me for a statement oncethey had staked out his house and he returned home after a year!!
also then in court, no one from customs made me feel welcome, came to advise me, helped me etc
i was left in the public area on my own with big arms of the family being done in the court!!
i went and spoke to some customs officers in anther case who then thought i was part of it all lol
then eventually a dover customs officer whom i knew from football years ago and was involved in my case came to see me.
the geezer in the case was pleading not guilty, and right up to the wire the two barristers were negotiating/talking/bartering quite an insight.
then just as we were about to go into the court thebarrister got word the geezer had just accepted the customs view and was going to plead guilty,
so we sat throuygh the proceedings quite interesting.
what i forgot to say was the first day everyone turned up i had to have 2 days off work and the polce in a city up north hadnt tiold the court that the geezer had been taken to hospital so couldnt attend, the judge/magistrate was not amused and realy ripped into the police quite rightly to.
