Is Langley customs or does this occur before its tracked into Langley?

[ironmonkey]

Hi guys,

Reading a lot of conflicting information here regarding what Langley is and whether it is here that items are checked for customs/prohibited items.

People say that when a parcel comes off a plane it goes through customs/boarder control and that it is NOT scanned into customs or that the parcel has arrived into the country (i.e. it has not been scanned into Langley HWDC). It is at this point when the parcel is x-rayed and checked to ensure it does not contain any offensive items like weapons, narcotics or items that are on the prohibited list... In other words the recipient of the parcel at this time will still see as if their parcel is on transport to the UK and not actually arrived in UK customs.

I then see conflicting information where people say their parcel was scanned into Langley and from there gets stuck. People then advise that Langley is customs in Heathrow and that it is out of the hands of Royal Mail so have to just wait till it clears or receive grey card.

If the latter is true then how can it be that customs have ownership of the item when it leaves the plane that just delivered the parcel(s) to the UK if it has already been scanned into Langley (and i understand it is only Royal Mail who have the ability to scan parcels in the UK and not boarder force).

Form my understanding below is the order from a parcel arriving in the UK:

* Item arrives in country (at this time there is no scan for arrival nor do Royal Mail have access/ownership of the parcel)
* Customs/Boarder force check all inbound parcels to ensure no prohibited parcels make it through.
* Once this is done it is THEN passed to Royal Mail who can then scan the parcel which in turn updates the tracking to report that it has "arrived in Langley"

would be great to get my head around this
THANKS!

[Snaggletooth]

Form my understanding below is the order from a parcel arriving in the UK:

* Item arrives in country (at this time there is no scan for arrival nor do Royal Mail have access/ownership of the parcel)
* Customs/Boarder force check all inbound parcels to ensure no prohibited parcels make it through.
* Once this is done it is THEN passed to Royal Mail who can then scan the parcel which in turn updates the tracking to report that it has "arrived in Langley"

This is pretty much correct for Royal Mail items.

HOWEVER

A small number of foreign postal administrations scan their items between taking them off the plane and handing them over to UK customs, giving you better tracking for your item. The US Postal Service does this. Most of the other big hitters don't.

If using certain Parcelforce services you might also get this better tracking, regardless of the sending country. And some people don't actually know if their parcel is RM or PFW at the time they start posting on here.

[ironmonkey]

OK thanks for this! This is good to know.

So basically once an item is in Langley its been handed over to royal mail and already been processed through customs and there is no other barrier left to pass (unless maybe there is duty to pay on the item)?

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Also sometime Postal Authorities will scan an item on dispatch to say its been sent to Langley, China Post does this. So on tracking its always better to check this site to see which company actually made the scan. https://parcelsapp.com/en

[ironmonkey]

Also sometime Postal Authorities will scan an item on dispatch to say its been sent to Langley, China Post does this. So on tracking its always better to check this site to see which company actually made the scan. https://parcelsapp.com/en

Yes indeed, that website says that Royal mail have scanned it in "Item Received. This item has been received at LANGLEY HWDC"

But if Royal mail dont get the parcel till after customs hand it over to them then how can Langley be customs?