Taking cash out of the country...

[Rick@62]

Is it correct that when leaving the UK via Dover, Newhaven etc or any other ferry port, the British Passport / Customs control people will always ask you "are you carrying any cash" and "how much and in what currency"?

I have never been asked this question at an airport when flying out of the UK.

Is there a cash limit in UK Sterling that you can take out of the UK?

I can understand that anyone taking £100k for example in used notes onto the Dover - Calais ferry whilst going on holiday in their MH would raise some suspicions but surely, a grand (for example) in used cash would be allowed! Its your own money after all.

Has anyone been asked this question at the ports? If so, does anyone know what the cash limit is? Has anyone ever been searched either personally or had their MH spun over by customs when leaving the UK regarding how much cash you are carrying?

Many thanks,
Rick

PS........ no, im not planning anything untoward, just asking a genuine question as, come Spring time, im hoping to do my first run to France in my MH.

 

[fishplug]

Your posted link does not state that. You can carry 10 k per person.,you just have to declare it.

It does, but it's for Northern Ireland..

If you’re travelling as a family or group with more than €10,000 in total (even if individuals are carrying less than that) you still need to make a declaration.

 

[fishplug]

I've carried two phones for years.

One personal, one work. Never the twain shall meet.

Never been questioned about it and have travelled to many countries with both (sat here with both in front of me having been to four countries with them in the last week...)

 

[Trev45]

What's cash?

I believe it is used by people who like to avoid paying tax.

 

[Brains]

What's cash?

A bit before my time, but he was a popular American singer in the 1960's

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[Northernraider]

Never been asked entering or exiting UK

I was asked once in Italy when disembarking the Greek ferry . I just said no


But I always have a decent amount of cash with me.
I prefer to currency exchange than withdraw cash when abroad .

 

[Brains]

Cash is king,always was,always will be.

However, in the UK, only 11% of people under the age 44 regularly use cash.

Two decades from now they will be the retirees.
By that point cash may be down to the same sort of usage as hand written letters, telephone boxes, landlines and TV ariels.

They may all still exist, but many younger members of staff at any company today have never written a letter, made a phone call from a telephone box, or remember a time when their parents still had a land line or a terrestrial TV.

Bring back white dog shit, 3 channels on the TV, queuing at the box for the weekly phone call, and waiting for the birthday letter from Granny with a 10 shilling postal order.

 

[varaizian]

I'm now 76 but avoid using cash like the plague; Apple Pay rules! We do use digital HD terrestrial French TV but also satellite reception of UK channels and a PVR box. Can't be bothered with "catch-up" tv. Once it is missed it has gone. Hand written letters went long ago apart from those really awkward ones commiserating someone's death; which become more frequent as you get older. There is a slightly smug feeling about still being here to write it though. But white dog shit I had completely forgotten about and the occasional ten bob note discovered in a suit pocket was always wonderful. That was 5 pints back then!!

 

[dryad]

can’t help thinking I would love to have this problem of how much to take..

 

[fishplug]

I like the convenience of contactless and it's what I use 99% of the time, but I'll usually have enough cash to cover emergency situations.

An old ex-army captain friend of mine used to say "always carry your passport and enough cash to leave the country"

Anyway, I would get teased about always having cash by my work colleagues right up until we had a long cab ride from some event in the middle of the mountains back to the airport. The boss had checked that they took cards before booking it so all was good...

...except nobody asked the driver who flatly refused to take cards and was a bit miffed because he'd already done half the journey to come and get us in the middle of nowhere.

Tempers were getting raised on both sides until I stepped in, opened my wallet and said, "It's OK, I've got cash"...

Day saved, and no one teased me about carrying cash after that.

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[frwjd]

no not since the 70s. I do remember the limit being £30 back then per person when going to Spain. Never been asked since.

Any foreign currency had to be noted in the back of your passport too

 

[StillGoing]

Cash is king,always was,always will be.

Many places don’t take cash. If often costs a business more to take cash than to take an electronic payment. With bank branches closing down it’s harder for businesses to pay cash into a bank. Cash is less secure for a business, harder to account for and much riskier to hold. It’s susceptible to theft and fraud.

However, if you’re paying someone trying to avoid paying tax then cash is king.

 

[tacr2man]

When traveling in more out of the way places,(eg Australia) it can save a possibly very long wait being able to pay cash for fuel if the eftpos system is down

A lot of people dont realise that you need to declare cash over E10K going into NI although not the other way into GB

 

[Bill-H]

Always carry and pay using cash. If a shop doesn't want cash, I go elsewhere - their problem not mine.
Travel abroad with cash - well hiden. If my motorhome gets nicked while I'm away, the loss of the cash will be the least of my worries.
Yes I do have cards as well, which I carry.
Used to have jobs many years ago where I'd have thousands of pounds at the end of each day (travelling sales, carrying goods) received from sales made to retailers. Never caused me any discomfort or worry having large amounts of cash about my person - but then I was never walking down shady side streets in cities at 3am carrying it.

 

[LostInSpace]

What's cash?

Its what the self employed use.

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[daventess]

Pretty sure you can take as much as you like, but you have to declare £10k or more, which will probably be recorded.

Not sure what happens if you have £9.9k shoved down your trousers and you get randomly searched?

 

[nicholsong]

Always carry and pay using cash. If a shop doesn't want cash, I go elsewhere - their problem not mine.
Travel abroad with cash - well hiden. If my motorhome gets nicked while I'm away, the loss of the cash will be the least of my worries.
Yes I do have cards as well, which I carry.
Used to have jobs many years ago where I'd have thousands of pounds at the end of each day (travelling sales, carrying goods) received from sales made to retailers. Never caused me any discomfort or worry having large amounts of cash about my person - but then I was never walking down shady side streets in cities at 3am carrying it.

I once had to carry a large amount of 'cash', well £2m of gold, which we flew from Heathrow to Beauvais airport near Paris, when UK was coming off the Gold Standard in the early '60s.

The previous flight in this operation was met by a circle of 12 armed gendarmes, but when we parked there was nobody, until we summoned somebody, which turned out to be a BRA ftaffic clerk on a bicycle.

Well it was Fench Sunday Lunchtime so I suppose £2m of gold took a back seat.

 

[The Wino]

Its what the self employed use.

Not necessarily. Look around you even market traders and charity collecters are using cards it's now either people stuck in the past or fiddling tax. We had a recent extension all the builders were paid by bank transfer.

 

[Bill-H]

Not necessarily. Look around you even market traders and charity collecters are using cards it's now either people stuck in the past or fiddling tax. We had a recent extension all the builders were paid by bank transfer.

I think many people have been hoodwinked into being frightened of cash - by the banks and large institutions who have a vested interest in 'looking after' your money while taking a little cut from it for each transaction you make using a credit card, and sucessive governments who like to be able to 'see' how much everyone has.
A couple of recent glitches in banking systems transaction and cashpoint services was making headlines quite recently as many were panicing about not having access to their own money. Two friends approached me to ask for some cash 'until it gets sorted' when it last occured.
Consider a line of people all doing a bank transfer to the next one along the line starting with £20, after the tenth transaction along you'd end up with £17.65 with the bank taking 1.5% of each transaction thank you very much. Now do the same with a £20 note, passing it along the line and you end up with....
Yes I do understand that banks charge biusnesses a fee for paying cash in and you have the inconvenience of going along to the (decreasing number of) bank branches.
I'm quite happy to be stuck in the past, but sad to say, I no longer have any of those big white fivers

 

[Minxy]

Always carry and pay using cash. If a shop doesn't want cash, I go elsewhere - their problem not mine.

I don't get this, you inconvenienced yourself by spending time going elsewhere rather than pay by card. In effect you created a problem for yourself.

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[Bill-H]

I don't get this, you inconvenienced yourself by spending time going elsewhere rather than pay by card. In effect you created a problem for yourself.

Principle, a matter of principle. If you go into a shop and they don't have exactly what you want, do you settle for their offering or go elseware?
A minor inconvenience but a point made to a vendor who won't make any profit from me for their refusal to accept legal tender. The goods are theirs to refuse to sell to anyone should they so chose, the purchasing power is mine to refuse to spend it in a particular establishment if I so chose.

 

[The Wino]

I think many people have been hoodwinked into being frightened of cash - by the banks and large institutions who have a vested interest in 'looking after' your money while taking a little cut from it for each transaction you make using a credit card, and sucessive governments who like to be able to 'see' how much everyone has.
A couple of recent glitches in banking systems transaction and cashpoint services was making headlines quite recently as many were panicing about not having access to their own money. Two friends approached me to ask for some cash 'until it gets sorted' when it last occured.
Consider a line of people all doing a bank transfer to the next one along the line starting with £20, after the tenth transaction along you'd end up with £17.65 with the bank taking 1.5% of each transaction thank you very much. Now do the same with a £20 note, passing it along the line and you end up with....
Yes I do understand that banks charge biusnesses a fee for paying cash in and you have the inconvenience of going along to the (decreasing number of) bank branches.
I'm quite happy to be stuck in the past, but sad to say, I no longer have any of those big white fivers

Why would it concern anyone what would happen after the tenth transaction you might as well do the same calculation saying every business has a 30% profit margin what's left then! I think it's a good thing for the government to know how much everyone earns I think a lot have a strange disconnect where people playing the benefits system are worse than people not paying tax on undeclared income through cash to me they're both the same fraud both need equally prosecuting

 

[The Wino]

Principle, a matter of principle. If you go into a shop and they don't have exactly what you want, do you settle for their offering or go elseware?
A minor inconvenience but a point made to a vendor who won't make any profit from me for their refusal to accept legal tender. The goods are theirs to refuse to sell to anyone should they so chose, the purchasing power is mine to refuse to spend it in a particular establishment if I so chose.

The number of places taking card only is increasing if anything it suggests it's a minority who won't buy if cash isn't taken and one many businesses are willing to wave goodbye to

 

[Minxy]

Principle, a matter of principle. If you go into a shop and they don't have exactly what you want, do you settle for their offering or go elseware?

But they apparently did have what you wanted to buy, just not with what you tendered, so not the same at all. If you go elsewhere you're just inconveniencing yourself for the same item.

A minor inconvenience but a point made to a vendor who won't make any profit from me for their refusal to accept legal tender.

I doubt they'd be bothered unless we are talking a very large amount of money and even then their having to handle and bank it, with associated time and possible higher fees than a card transaction, would still be no loss.

The goods are theirs to refuse to sell to anyone should they so chose, the purchasing power is mine to refuse to spend it in a particular establishment if I so chose.

Correct, but not when, to me at least , it seems like cutting your nose off to spite your face.

 

[Rick@62]

Wow, thanks for all the replies. Lots of opinions here.

So it would seem that anyone taking a grand in cash with them wouldnt be committing an offence or be of any major concern to HMRC at the port of departure.

I can see the argument for taking minimal cash and using a card instead but im a bit "old school" in that cash is king and if the card is rejected or the computer says NO you can still make a purchase, unless of course the vendor doesn't want cash in the first place.

When I started driving trucks around Europe in 1981 we were given "running money". No fuel cards etc back then. I would change up varying sums on the ferry and in varying currencies, French Francs, Swiss Francs, Deutch Marks, Lira, Peseta`s etc depending on where I was heading to and the route I was using. As a freight driver using the ferries you were given a more favourable exchange rate than the tourists.

This money would be used for everything from buying diesel and paying tolls, to paying agents or "fixers" to paying imaginary fines (Coffee Money) to the local plod for spurious speeding or traffic offences. One company I drove for gave you 900 francs in a sealed envelope for the standard French on the spot fine if "c`est possible pour une petit cafe chef?" didnt work!

I will look at the Revolut card mentioned here as it would appear that I can link it to the Fulli toll box to make life a bit easier if I decide to use the autoroutes. Personally I would stick to using the Nationals as I wont be in a hurry to get anywhere and love getting into the French countryside.

Thanks once again for all the posts, it is very informative.

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[Autoroute]

I was asked at the tunnel last year.
£10k limit and carrying lots of cash is a red flag for drugs, money laundering and funding terrorism.
There is a £250+ penalty if they catch you lying to them.

 

[Bill-H]

Why would it concern anyone what would happen after the tenth transaction you might as well do the same calculation saying every business has a 30% profit margin what's left then! I think it's a good thing for the government to know how much everyone earns I think a lot have a strange disconnect where people playing the benefits system are worse than people not paying tax on undeclared income through cash to me they're both the same fraud both need equally prosecuting

it would concern you if you were expecting the £20 but were only receiving £17.60 "sorry, the bank has the rest mate" .
Stange that you consider my paying cash means I could be fiddling my tax and need prosecuting. I currently have a choice in how I spend my own money, do you advocate removing that option because you believe I could be on the fiddle? What level of monetary contol over the population do you find acceptable?

 

[The Wino]

it would concern you if you were expecting the £20 but were only receiving £17.60 "sorry, the bank has the rest mate" .
Stange that you consider my paying cash means I could be fiddling my tax and need prosecuting. I currently have a choice in how I spend my own money, do you advocate removing that option because you believe I could be on the fiddle? What level of monetary contol over the population do you find acceptable?

I didn't say you wanted to use cash to fiddle tax but don't you think a big reason self employed people sometimes prefer cash is that? There is bound to be a level of monetary control over the population as all that money is are government issued milk tokens to be exchanged for goods and services. The value of money is affected by inflation ( partly set by government policy) exchange rates ( again set by government policy and interest rates ( guess who sets those). In the history of money there have been several different options from beads to shells to coins minted in precious metals to digital tokens like bitcoin. They are all only as valuable as whatever they will buy our banknotes are no different it's only the stability of our government that makes them anymore valuable than the ones Germans used to carry in wheelbarrows. Cash is no more king than any other representation of government tokens including electronic transfers of cash credit cards etc and no more real

 

[Chris]

If you don’t carry a minimum of £10k cash and your Rolex’s you don’t deserve to get gassed in your motorhome.

 

[The Wino]

By coincidence in the news today

Heathrow Airport: £400,000 found in suitcase

A man has been charged with money laundering after the cash was found in a suitcase.

www.bbc.co.uk

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[gus-lopez]

I don't get this, you inconvenienced yourself by spending time going elsewhere rather than pay by card. In effect you created a problem for yourself.

As said,principles.If no one had any we would all end up being walked all over

I think it's a good thing for the government to know how much everyone earns

You really are something else.they need to know as little as possible They are the worst of the scamming criminals just sort of legal until they are caught

I think a lot have a strange disconnect where people playing the benefits system are worse than people not paying tax on undeclared income

They are,At least those declaring less than they are earning are ACTUALLY paying something in unlike the others

Correct, but not when, to me at least , it seems like cutting your nose off to spite your face.

That is what you do with principles.

So it would seem that anyone taking a grand in cash with them

I thought you were taking about carrying a "lot" of cash?

There is a £250+ penalty if they catch you lying to them.

& nothing for all the lying they do to us?

I didn't say you wanted to use cash to fiddle tax

I really can't see any other meaning to what you always post when this comes up? It comes across as anyone carrying cash or wanting to pay in cash is fiddling the taxman?

but don't you think a big reason self employed people sometimes prefer cash is that?

No. It might now be a problem in the Uk paying it in but that should be built in to the job cost. It costs nothing to pay in to building societies.