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On The Spot Broker LTD is a customs brokerage firm focused on making cross-border trade as smooth and predictable as possible. From our UK head office in Staines and our network of branches across Europe, our team handles customs declarations and advisory services for importers, exporters, hauliers and freight forwarders moving goods between the United Kingdom and the European Union.
We do not transport, store or move goods ourselves. What we do is the customs paperwork that allows your goods to move – accurately and in line with the applicable rules, so that border delays caused by paperwork issues can be kept to a minimum.
OTS Broker specialises in the customs environment that has emerged since the United Kingdom left the EU single market and customs union. Every consignment moving between Great Britain and the EU now has to be declared to customs on both sides of the Channel, and for many businesses this is still a demanding area to navigate.
Our role is to act as the customs agent and adviser that sits between you, HMRC and the customs authorities in the EU. We work as a direct or indirect representative, depending on your needs, and submit the declarations on your behalf using the relevant systems – CDS in the United Kingdom and the national import and export systems used by EU customs authorities.
Our team is made up of experienced customs specialists with hands-on experience of UK and EU customs procedures, tariff classification, origin rules and special procedures.
We provide a full range of customs brokerage and consultancy services, including:
We work with businesses of all sizes – from small online retailers shipping their first pallets across the Channel, to global manufacturers and logistics groups that need a dedicated customs broker for high volumes of declarations every day.
OTS Broker has offices and customs agents on both sides of the UK-EU border. We can clear goods at major UK seaports and airports – among others Dover, Felixstowe, Southampton, Tilbury, Immingham, Hull, Liverpool, London Heathrow and London Gatwick – as well as at key EU gateways such as Rotterdam, Antwerp, Calais, Dunkirk, Le Havre, Hamburg and Bremerhaven, and the main Polish ports of Gdańsk, Gdynia and Szczecin. The full list of locations we cover is available on our website.
Our group includes:
Because we have boots on the ground in each of these countries, we can react quickly when something needs sorting at the border – instead of relying on a single office working in one time zone.
Customs work is, in the end, about detail – the right commodity code, the right procedure code, the right value, the right document references. Mistakes can be costly: they may lead to delays, additional duty, penalties or disputes with HMRC and EU authorities. Our approach is built around careful attention to those details and around being available when our clients need us.
In practice that means:
If you are dealing with customs for the first time, considering changing your broker, or simply want a second opinion on how your current set-up is structured, we would be glad to hear from you. Send us your shipment details and we will come back to you with next steps.
