BOOTLEG van gangs are costing EVERY pub in East Lancashire £3,225 a year in lost sales, shocking new figures reveal.

More than 1,300 crossings a week are made for cheap booze from the continent which floods the local market and threatens the livelihoods of landlords and brewers.

And Lancashire is in the top ten destinations for beer-carrying vans along with London, Manchester, Chelmsford and Newcastle.

Dick Dalgleish, of the North West Brewers and Licensed Retailers' Association, said: "It's a major problem which is having a knock-on effect on pubs. We're also aware landlords are doing deals with the bootleggers.

"Some pubs are able to resist cheap booze offers because they buy direct from the brewery but smaller businesses are tempted by not having to pay VAT and not having to put it through the books.

"It's a problem that's not going to go away - it's just getting worse."

An estimated 34 vans full of alcohol come into the area each week.

Blackburn-based Thwaites found itself in the bizarre position of transporting its beer to France - to sell back to the English! John Broderick, landlord of the Brewery Tap in Blackburn and chairman of the North West Federation of Licensed Victualler's Associations, said: "We are aware that this cheap booze is coming here and we do our best to monitor the situation.

"But these people are difficult to catch. A lot of work needs to be done before we can wipe this out."

A survey, carried out by the Brewers and Licensed Retailers' Association found;

Van crossings ranged from 146 in March to a staggering 358 in the run up to Christmas.

One van load of smuggled beer contained 1,500 pints - the weekly trade of a small community pub.

More than 1.1 million pints A DAY come into Britain from France alone, much of it being sold at car boot sales, on housing estates and even door-to-door.

Robin Simpson, director of the BLRA, said: "The solution to this problem, which is threatening pubs and encouraging crime is simple - cut the beer tax in Britain now.

"The huge difference between excise duty in Britain and France makes a joke of the so-called single-market and plays right into the hands of the smuggler."

Since the introduction of the single market on January 1 1993, British visitors to France have been able to purchase as much beer as they want to bring back for personal consumption.

A figure of 110 litres per person is set as an indicative limit and is only the level below which no questions will be asked but European Union law prevents any systematic frontier control, so evasion is routine.

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