The UAFC

big mervyn wrote: Probably took great pride in never having set foot in the Free State mind Arlene is Bitter Orange personified.

I think she has some Gael in her heritage. Those folk are almost always worse (Though thankfully not my old pal LKOTP) in terms of bitterness or extremism as they seem to have something to prove or some such ballix.

Think of d1ckheads like Eddy Morrison in GB.

Shan wrote:

Cap'n Grumpy wrote: Depends on what you mean by hard or soft.

What many regarded as a hard border was nothing to do with customs and everything to do with security.

Prior to that there were customs posts but (and I may be wrong in this) most cars and light vans etc passed freely through without hassle. Larger goods vehicles were prone to checks, but even then not all, or so I have been led to believe.

Possibly you could call it a soft-boiled border, but nothing like the queues of vehicles that have been witnessed at other borders.

That is why I very carefully used the word "creative". However thank you Arlene for the input.

Shirley, you're not calling me Arlene, are ya?

It may have been creative, (and heaven forbid that I should ever side with the DUP), but it's closer to the current and predicted scenarios post Brexit ... no hard border unless it's due to a security issue because of a threat from republican terrorism ...



NB: I abhor loyalist terrorists as much as republican - they're all criminals - but I'm unaware of loyalist crims using the border to aid their law-breaking.

Cap'n Grumpy wrote:

Shan wrote:So I hear that Arlene said there was never a hard border on this island. That's a bit creative.

Depends on what you mean by hard or soft.

What many regarded as a hard border was nothing to do with customs and everything to do with security.

Prior to that there were customs posts but (and I may be wrong in this) most cars and light vans etc passed freely through without hassle. Larger goods vehicles were prone to checks, but even then not all, or so I have been led to believe.

Possibly you could call it a soft-boiled border, but nothing like the queues of vehicles that have been witnessed at other borders.

Mid to late 60's is as far back as I remember and you got a separate triangle tax disc for the car for crossing the border, customs posts stopped all cars and asked "anything to declare" , the smaller roads were marked "unapproved " and there were no customs facilities on them, not so bad if stopped with no taxable goods but bad if stopped with goods.
Smuggling happened with easy to carry stuff on tracks and taking chances on the roads at night.
Move forward to late 70's things got more sophisticated with radios and cars scouting roads, then the paramilitaries got involved to get their slice of the pie.
Army appeared around then but they only ever bothered with guns and semtex, saw many loads of fuel etc checked and waved through. Beef butter and grain went round and round lifting VAT refunds, customs posts got blown up and retreated back from the border, people got rich people died.
Then the customs union kicked in and most things became similar price, diesel laundering, cigarette petrol and drink smuggling started. At present cigarettes and drugs are about the height of the smuggling. Diesel laundering is not depending on the border.
And all is well but a bit boring crossing the border at present, in fact a lot of today's youth couldn't tell you where it actually is once they get off the main road and see the road signs change.

I don't recall the separate tax disc, but then I was too young to drive back then.

I wouldn't have been a regular cross border traveller, but do recall doing it a number of times in both directions and seem to recall being stopped just once - briefly - and waved on after a "nothing to declare". Other times just waved through without so much as a by your leave.

Not the hardest of borders in my recollection, but I'm sure you crossed it much more often than I.

Cap'n Grumpy wrote:

Shan wrote:

Cap'n Grumpy wrote: Depends on what you mean by hard or soft.

What many regarded as a hard border was nothing to do with customs and everything to do with security.

Prior to that there were customs posts but (and I may be wrong in this) most cars and light vans etc passed freely through without hassle. Larger goods vehicles were prone to checks, but even then not all, or so I have been led to believe.

Possibly you could call it a soft-boiled border, but nothing like the queues of vehicles that have been witnessed at other borders.

That is why I very carefully used the word "creative". However thank you Arlene for the input.

Shirley, you're not calling me Arlene, are ya?

It may have been creative, (and heaven forbid that I should ever side with the DUP), but it's closer to the current and predicted scenarios post Brexit ... no hard border unless it's due to a security issue because of a threat from republican terrorism ...



NB: I abhor loyalist terrorists as much as republican - they're all criminals - but I'm unaware of loyalist crims using the border to aid their law-breaking.

Recently it seems loyalists have been invited down and given paid work. Notably in Roscommon.

Cap'n Grumpy wrote:I don't recall the separate tax disc, but then I was too young to drive back then.

I wouldn't have been a regular cross border traveller, but do recall doing it a number of times in both directions and seem to recall being stopped just once - briefly - and waved on after a "nothing to declare". Other times just waved through without so much as a by your leave.

Not the hardest of borders in my recollection, but I'm sure you crossed it much more often than I.

It was quite firm during the foot and mouth fiasco. One overzealous Irish official tried to confiscate my Easter eggs because they were a "dairy product"

Cap'n Grumpy wrote:I don't recall the separate tax disc, but then I was too young to drive back then.

I wouldn't have been a regular cross border traveller, but do recall doing it a number of times in both directions and seem to recall being stopped just once - briefly - and waved on after a "nothing to declare". Other times just waved through without so much as a by your leave.

Not the hardest of borders in my recollection, but I'm sure you crossed it much more often than I.

Distinctly remember the triangular tax or else was a goods permit ?
I was being driven but would have been across 4 or 5 times a week

big mervyn wrote:

Cap'n Grumpy wrote:I don't recall the separate tax disc, but then I was too young to drive back then.

I wouldn't have been a regular cross border traveller, but do recall doing it a number of times in both directions and seem to recall being stopped just once - briefly - and waved on after a "nothing to declare". Other times just waved through without so much as a by your leave.

Not the hardest of borders in my recollection, but I'm sure you crossed it much more often than I.

It was quite firm during the foot and mouth fiasco. One overzealous Irish official tried to confiscate my Easter eggs because they were a "dairy product"

That was actually quite funny at that stage, was heading through one day and Garda opened up the curtains on the side of a lorry owned by one of the major transport companies here, full load of empty 1000 litre cubes, lorry goes a mile up the road and fills the lot with derv heads back N and waves at them on the way past, no fecks were given that 26 tonnes of derv was heading north as ROI had gained some revenue.
If he had a ham sandwich in the cab they would have pulled him

There have been some epic ones on the border over the years, another good one I remember was a load of sheep that were on the roundabout and got out to graze every night in sight of the local army/RUC base, on this particular night the sheep on their way northwards minus the paperwork army had lorry stopped and out appeared 2 HMRC men along with a RUC constable, smart thinking driver runs round the back and dropped the taildoor, total chaos as 300 lambs ran out the back thinking about a fresh feed of grass, straight up the road after decking a few squaddies and back into their own field across the border.

There was at least one mad episode each week and I only know one who got prosecuted at the end of it all and that was because he got stitched up hauling a load of stolen video recorders and he thought he had a load of butter in the back.

I do remember having to go through customs when getting off the Dublin train in Gt Victoria Street Station.

You're quite right Rooster about the triangles for the car to get across. I remember my dad applying for one for a holday down south. The good aul days!

mid ulster maestro wrote:I do remember having to go through customs when getting off the Dublin train in Gt Victoria Street Station.

You're quite right Rooster about the triangles for the car to get across. I remember my dad applying for one for a holday down south. The good aul days!

I think we might still have one somewhere, will try and dig it out over the next few months.

Everyone remembers hiding cartons of fegs

Found a picture of one

I remember them as red. Funny thing memory, clearly not what it used to be. My dad used to drive us south in our Hillman Minx (no doubt an unacceptably sexist name these days). We'd stop in a layby a few miles across the border, get out the primus stove for proper fresh tea and wolf down ham baps and my mum's apple tart before continuing the long trek to Bray, where our friends lived. Happy days. I'm coming over all nostalgic.

Ah here. All the auld feckers are rabbiting on about times past. Can't compete with that. The first time I ever travelled back in time was in 1999 and by then the only thing ya noticed around the border was miles instead of kilometres.