The man duly had the first customer service carried out in the Swiss store at the beginning of February 2022. On his subsequent return journey to Germany, he was stopped at the same border crossing by an inspection team from the main customs office in Lörrach and did not declare any goods when questioned.

The reason he gave for the journey was the servicing of his racing bike in the trunk. The cyclist stated that he had not given any thought to a possible obligation to declare the goods and the duties to be paid on initial importation. On suspicion of attempted tax evasion, the customs officers were forced to initiate proceedings against the man, who was nonetheless reasonable, and at the same time levied import duties of around 4,800 euros.

With the purchase price and the tax to be paid, the racing bike is close to the 20,000 Swiss franc mark. Only very few bikes are in this price league - even if in this case they are not free of charge.