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| 'These shops have been very naughty': passengers react to airport VAT row | 'These shops have been very naughty': passengers react to airport VAT row |
| (about 4 hours later) | |
| There was outrage and a touch of weary resignation about reports of the airport retailers’ VAT “scam” at Heathrow on Wednesday. Most ire was saved for the fact that some of the country’s biggest retailers are involved. | There was outrage and a touch of weary resignation about reports of the airport retailers’ VAT “scam” at Heathrow on Wednesday. Most ire was saved for the fact that some of the country’s biggest retailers are involved. |
| Related: Airport VAT row: customers threatening to not show boarding passes | Related: Airport VAT row: customers threatening to not show boarding passes |
| Geoff Dyer, 65, from Bristol, who is waiting in arrivals in Terminal 2, says he has been asked by retailers for his boarding pass every time he has shopped with them and feels cheated. “I just thought it was common practice,” Dyer, who is retired, says. | Geoff Dyer, 65, from Bristol, who is waiting in arrivals in Terminal 2, says he has been asked by retailers for his boarding pass every time he has shopped with them and feels cheated. “I just thought it was common practice,” Dyer, who is retired, says. |
| “I think it’s quite a low trick,” he adds. “Really now it’s every man for himself in this financial climate, but I think these shops, with the names they carry, have been very naughty.” | “I think it’s quite a low trick,” he adds. “Really now it’s every man for himself in this financial climate, but I think these shops, with the names they carry, have been very naughty.” |
| Dyer is part of a growing consumer backlash against airport retailers who insist on seeing passengers’ boarding cards in order to claim VAT relief – which is not passed on to the customer. Treasury minister David Gauke stressed on Wednesday that the savings were supposed to be passed on to customers – while Boots and Dixons announced new guidance to their staff to make it clear they cannot compel customers to show their cards. | Dyer is part of a growing consumer backlash against airport retailers who insist on seeing passengers’ boarding cards in order to claim VAT relief – which is not passed on to the customer. Treasury minister David Gauke stressed on Wednesday that the savings were supposed to be passed on to customers – while Boots and Dixons announced new guidance to their staff to make it clear they cannot compel customers to show their cards. |
| Inside Terminal 5, people queuing at a checkout take a while to fiddle with their bags as they rummage through their travel documents. The process of shopping at airport retailers takes longer because travellers are asked to present their boarding passes when making a purchase. | Inside Terminal 5, people queuing at a checkout take a while to fiddle with their bags as they rummage through their travel documents. The process of shopping at airport retailers takes longer because travellers are asked to present their boarding passes when making a purchase. |
| “They asked me in Boots for my boarding pass and I thought you had to show it,” says Seamus, who is travelling to Belfast. “Now I feel a little bit dumb. When the transaction at an airport shop takes place it should be explained what you’re entitled to and what the arrangements are. I occasionally fly outside the EU, and if they ask for my boarding pass in the future I would challenge it and ask if I’m due a discount.” | “They asked me in Boots for my boarding pass and I thought you had to show it,” says Seamus, who is travelling to Belfast. “Now I feel a little bit dumb. When the transaction at an airport shop takes place it should be explained what you’re entitled to and what the arrangements are. I occasionally fly outside the EU, and if they ask for my boarding pass in the future I would challenge it and ask if I’m due a discount.” |
| John Cockram, 81, a retired restaurateur from Wales, takes a sterner view. “I think they have been dishonest,” he says. “When I was in business I couldn’t have got away with that – it’s almost like Starbucks,” he says, referring to the backlash against the coffee chain when its complicated tax arrangements were revealed. | John Cockram, 81, a retired restaurateur from Wales, takes a sterner view. “I think they have been dishonest,” he says. “When I was in business I couldn’t have got away with that – it’s almost like Starbucks,” he says, referring to the backlash against the coffee chain when its complicated tax arrangements were revealed. |
| Briton Ray Braybrook, who is travelling to Paris, says: “I think what they’re doing is defrauding the government. They knock the money off the goods, fair enough, but if they’re keeping it, that’s not right. If they asked me for my boarding pass I wouldn’t give it to them, knowing what we know now. We just assumed you had to give boarding passes over, even if it was for information gathering.” | Briton Ray Braybrook, who is travelling to Paris, says: “I think what they’re doing is defrauding the government. They knock the money off the goods, fair enough, but if they’re keeping it, that’s not right. If they asked me for my boarding pass I wouldn’t give it to them, knowing what we know now. We just assumed you had to give boarding passes over, even if it was for information gathering.” |
| Graham Downey, who flies to Egypt every three weeks and is this week flying to Manchester, says: “Even in WH Smith when you buy a chocolate bar you get asked for your boarding pass. They should be passing some of the VAT onto the customer to entice better shopping, because places like Dixons are quite expensive. It just puts you off a bit.” | Graham Downey, who flies to Egypt every three weeks and is this week flying to Manchester, says: “Even in WH Smith when you buy a chocolate bar you get asked for your boarding pass. They should be passing some of the VAT onto the customer to entice better shopping, because places like Dixons are quite expensive. It just puts you off a bit.” |
| Owen Evans, 32, blames the government for not stopping retailers taking advantage of the loophole. “It should be made illegal,” he says. “If the shops are playing the system, it’s the government’s fault for allowing them to do that. Anyone would do that if it’s legal. Obviously you want to do the best for your business. But obviously it’s not providing the best service for your customers.” | Owen Evans, 32, blames the government for not stopping retailers taking advantage of the loophole. “It should be made illegal,” he says. “If the shops are playing the system, it’s the government’s fault for allowing them to do that. Anyone would do that if it’s legal. Obviously you want to do the best for your business. But obviously it’s not providing the best service for your customers.” |
| Ian Hassey’s first response to the VAT revelation is to find it quite funny. But he quickly adds: “It’s quite scandalous actually, isn’t it? But it doesn’t surprise me at all in this country at the moment.” | Ian Hassey’s first response to the VAT revelation is to find it quite funny. But he quickly adds: “It’s quite scandalous actually, isn’t it? But it doesn’t surprise me at all in this country at the moment.” |
| Hassey, from Thetford, Norfolk, adds: “People are getting away with so much nowadays that people turn a blind eye to that. It’s just like companies not paying their full tax by having their head offices overseas. But I don’t think I would get away with it.” | Hassey, from Thetford, Norfolk, adds: “People are getting away with so much nowadays that people turn a blind eye to that. It’s just like companies not paying their full tax by having their head offices overseas. But I don’t think I would get away with it.” |
| At Glasgow airport, passengers were equally annoyed by the retailers’ behaviour. | |
| “It’s fortunate it’s been revealed but they were still asking for our boarding passes today. I didn’t know we could refuse. In the future if they ask for my boarding pass I’ll tell them to stuff it,” says Joe McEwan, who is flying with his family to Croatia. | |
| Jackie Clarke, flying to Turkey with her husband and daughter, said: “It’s ridiculous. I’ve worked in business and admin, and know that such transactions don’t amount to an invitation to treat because customers don’t have all the facts. It amounts to theft. It’s not like it’s a market place and you can barter. People who travel to Europe are usually on package holidays, but in my old job we’d fly international and you’d spend a lot of time in duty free. They’re getting a lot out of international travellers because they’re the ones with disposable incomes. In the future I’d refuse to show my boarding pass and claim my money back. They should repeal the law and make it more transparent.” | |
| Her husband Andy Clarke added: “In self service you have to scan your boarding pass to pay for your items. I just bought a book in WH Smith and had to show my pass. I saw the bloke in front of me groan about it as well. He had to to go and get his boarding pass just to buy a fanta and a newspaper. And they don’t give you a receipt. You’re conditioned by fact that they ask for it, which is wrong.” | |
| “I hadn’t heard about this but hearing it now makes me feel a bit annoyed, and in the future if I get asked to show my boarding pass I’ll query it because that’s the sort of person I am. When you come through security you’ve shown your boarding pass so you’re obviously flying. The reason they ask in the shops is because of different prices depending on where you’re flying to. If they’re not putting the discounts into effect then there’s no need for it,” said Anne Togneri, who was due to fly to Malaga. | |
| Jonathan Stanton, head of digital retail at Nintendo and a regular traveller, says he wants the VAT he has paid in airport shops to be refunded. He says he feels cheated. “It’s unfair if they pocket the money,” he says. “It’s basically the VAT that we pay and they are pocketing it. | Jonathan Stanton, head of digital retail at Nintendo and a regular traveller, says he wants the VAT he has paid in airport shops to be refunded. He says he feels cheated. “It’s unfair if they pocket the money,” he says. “It’s basically the VAT that we pay and they are pocketing it. |
| Related: The Boarding Pass Revolt: why passengers are taking a stand | Related: The Boarding Pass Revolt: why passengers are taking a stand |
| “I thought it was just a security requirement. It was never explained to me at the time.” | “I thought it was just a security requirement. It was never explained to me at the time.” |
| Reggae singer Roy Ellis, who is waiting for a flight back to Switzerland, his adoptive homeland, says: “I never buy anything at duty free since I found out that things are usually cheaper in the country you’re going to.” | Reggae singer Roy Ellis, who is waiting for a flight back to Switzerland, his adoptive homeland, says: “I never buy anything at duty free since I found out that things are usually cheaper in the country you’re going to.” |
| But, Ellis adds, the shops are serving a captive market who have already checked in their luggage and gone through security checks. “They take away your stuff then you go past these shops,” he says. “If you take a bottle of water, for example, they say you can’t take any liquid. The same thing they take away from you they then sell back to you in duty free.” | But, Ellis adds, the shops are serving a captive market who have already checked in their luggage and gone through security checks. “They take away your stuff then you go past these shops,” he says. “If you take a bottle of water, for example, they say you can’t take any liquid. The same thing they take away from you they then sell back to you in duty free.” |