The amount of goods you can bring is commonly known as your 'personal allowance'. Personal allowance rules apply to any goods you have bought overseas and are bringing in to the UK. These rules apply to goods regardless of where you bought them, this could include: a duty free or tax-free shop, on the high street in the country you've visited. You must declare all commercial goods, there are no personal allowances for goods you bring in to sell or use in your business.

The amount of goods you can bring in without paying tax or duty on them depends on, where you're travelling from, if you're arriving in Great Britain (England, wales and Scotland), if you're arriving in Northern Ireland.

Before crossing the UK border you must tell customs about 'declare' any goods, where you go over your allowances, that are banned or restricted. If you go over any allowance, you will have to pay tax and duty on all the goods in that category. You can declare goods online from 5 days (120 hours) before you are due to arrive in the UK.

Some goods are restricted, like firearms, explosives and ammunition. You need a special licence to bring them into the UK. some food and plant products are also restricted if they are, not free from pests and diseases, not for your own use, were not grown in the EU.

if you go over your personal allowance you must declare your goods online before you travel or at the border when you arrive and pay tax and duty on all the goods in that category.

ALCOHOL ALLOWANCE

how much you can bring depends on the type of alcohol. you can bring in beer (42litres), wine (18litres), spirits and other liquors over 22% alcohol (4litres), alcoholic drinks up to 22% (9litres) not including beer or wine.

TOBACCO ALLOWANCE

you can bring in one of the following, 200 cigarettes, 100 cigarillos, 50 cigars, 250g tobacco, 200 sticks of tobacco for electronic heated tobacco devices.

you can split the allowance for bot alcohol and tobacco.

you can bring the certain food in without any restrictions these include, bread, cakes without fresh cream, biscuits, chocolate or confectionery, pasta and noodles as long as not meat mixed in, packaged soup, stocks and flavourings, processed or packages plant products, food supplements.

There are restrictions on bringing meat, dairy, fish and animal products, fruit, vegetables, nuts, and seeds in.

All passengers arriving from the EU are required to make a customs declaration by selecting the green channel (nothing to declare) or the red channel (goods to declare). Passengers with goods to declare, carrying goods above the permitted customs limit or carrying prohibited items go through the red channel. Passengers with nothing to declare, carrying goods within the permitted customs limit and not carrying prohibited items can go through the green channel. once a passenger has entered a channel they cant go back and switch channels, so if they entered the green channel and is found with possession of prohibited items or in failure to declare items they could be subjected to a fine, the item being seized or even in some cases result in arrest or criminal prosecution.

Once you have declared your goods you will be emailed a receipt or given a reference number that customs will ask to see, you will then be able to use the green channel (nothing to declare) when you enter the UK.

Bringing goods into the UK for personal use: Arriving in Great Britain - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Bringing food into Great Britain: Overview - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

UK customs | Heathrow

Bringing goods into the UK for personal use: Declare goods and pay tax and duty to UK customs - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)