You should demand a copy of the Customs entry. The VAT should be 20% of the value and the duty – if any – will be very little. Unless the import agent has screwed up big time then the balance will be their charge. This is usually £8 with Royal Mail. Something does not add up; not unusual when RM and HMRC are involved. Parcel Farce are rather worse! I won't bore you with tales………….

To my knowledge there is no equivalent unit anywhere else in the world. You might try looking here for wiring diagrams which avoid the use of multiple voltage outputs **LINK** You may even find your acquired tug.

Dave M

You can get a 6 way fusebox here **LINK** …. I have installed one in a large scale model destroyer but it does take up quite a bit of space

Glad you've sorted it. UKBA should have refunded your money within 14 days. If not, the threat of involving your MP will usually stop everything else they do until you're happy.

Just as an illiustration of how wrong things can go we imported 200 identical motors from one supplier in the USA. These came packed in four boxes of 50 each. Each one had the correct documents attached – all identical, of course, but their routes were quite different:

Box #1 was delivered by Parcel Force after three days. There was no mention of a Customs charge (for the VAT) or handling charge (for Parcel Force). The guy just left it with us.

Boxes 2 and 3 arrived in the UK five days and six days later respectively, with a letter demanding I attend the local Parcel Farce depot to collect them and pay the VAT. The values were not the same. In fact, one was around £18 while the other was £26. Neither amount corresponded to the correct value.

Meantime we had been checking the courier's website and found that the first box i.e. the one we'd had delivered already, had been lost in New Jersey! Their tracking system never did find it.

After ten days we traced Box 4 to the local Parcel Farce depot, so I went to collect it. They hadn't sent me the usual letter asking me to turn up and pay them when I collected the package. Presumably an oversight? Trying to get the slack-jawed, glassy-eyed, knuckle-dragging neanderthal behind the counter to understand that I couldn't produce the letter because I'd not received one was a major exercise in self-restraint. Fortunately my scowl must have been a touch more frightening than his manager's so I guess I won that round with him. The VAT was £36!

Knowing a bit about VAT I simply paid up and claimed back the identical amount as Input tax on our next VAT return (VAT is silly like that), but Joe Soap could have been driven bonkers by this disaster movie.

As for UKBA, it was the unwanted child of UK Border Force (itself the bastard child of HMRC's earlier split) and has been split up due to its appalling performance. No doubt the same staff will have to apply to G4 for their old jobs back at half the salary. Nothing changes.

Keep the faith
DM