HMRC has restored its customs system to full functionality after a 10-day outage, which caused mass delays in shipments to and from the EU.
‘Following our update on Friday 8 April 2022, we can confirm that the continuity plan that was in place over the weekend has now been lifted,’ HMRC wrote. ‘The Goods Vehicle Movement Service (GVMS) is now fully operational, and you’ll need a Goods Movement References (GMRs) for all movements using GVMS. We apologise for any inconvenience caused whilst we investigated the issue.’ That ‘inconvenience’ included miles-long tailbacks down the M20, one of the UK’s most important motorways that links London to Folkestone and Dover. The GVMS system, which companies transporting goods between the UK and EU use to file customs documents electronically, went live on the 1st January as part of the Government’s post-Brexit border management system. The system links information on cross-border customs declarations of goods with the vehicle that is transporting them.
