September 12, 2023 6.59 pm This story is over 12 months old

How a lorry full of ‘laminate wood’ led to a £2.4m fraud conviction

The £2.4m cigarette scam that went up in smoke

Timothy James Goodlad, a 58-year-old lorry driver from Barnetby, Lincolnshire, faced justice at Winchester Crown Court. He was found guilty of dodging more than £2.4 million in excise duty by smuggling counterfeit cigarettes into the UK.

On the morning of 28 November 2019, Goodlad’s lorry came to a halt at the Eurotunnel UK Control Zone in France. Border Force Officers were on duty. Goodlad handed them documents, claiming he was transporting 26 pallets of laminate wood from Belgium to a building supplies company in Scunthorpe.

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